Tampines MP & HDB Responded to Eerie HDB Block at Tampines GreenVines; Colours Were Chosen Based on Fruits

With more new BTOs emerging nationwide, you’ve probably seen some with…well, questionable designs.

For residents, the designs and colour schemes of their homes are even more of an eyesore.

For several blocks in the Tampines GreenVines Build-to-Order project in Tampines North, it’s hard to tell whether residents will live on a Halloween Horror Nights set or in a club in Clarke Quay.

Residents and netizens alike are not pleased with the red-themed blocks.

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The Floor to Ceiling Red Is Not It

After photos of Tampines GreenVines (or should we say, Tampines RedVines) surfaced on TikTok, netizens took to the comment section to express their distaste, with many of them noting how “spooky” and “haunted” it looked.

Some were more creative with their insults, outrightly mentioning how the flats resembled a “red light district.”

It may be true that Tampines is starting to look a bit more like another particular neighbourhood in the east.

This one was pretty funny, not gonna lie.

However, one netizen mentioned that the design is unsafe for residents, justifying the discourse surrounding the red-coloured tiles and walls.

Residents have it worse. A resident, Ms Lee, 35, told The Straits Times that she and her family “thought it was acceptable” when they visited in the afternoon, but at night, “it really looked as scary as the pictures.”

“Art Exhibition”?

Some netizens commented on how picturesque the blocks looked, such as the one below.

While most of us would disagree, we’ll give them points for being game enough to stay in what looks like a replica of the infamous Pasir Ris red house.

MP Baey Yam Keng Steps In

MP Baey Yam Keng told The Straits Times on Wednesday, “Seeing the photos taken at night with dim lighting, I agree with the comments that the block appears eerie. I’ve told HDB that the colour may not be appropriate in an HDB block, and they will look into it.”

The ceilings of the lift lobbies, which were originally red as well, were repainted white on Tuesday night.

According to Mr Baey, Tampines GreenVines has three different coloured themes, red, yellow and purplish-blue.

He mentioned that some residents were “hesitant” about the bright yellow theme, but a Telegram poll on Tuesday showed that most of them wanted to keep the colour.

As the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment and Transport, Mr Baey hopes to save resources.

The last resort for redesigning the blocks would be to “hack the tiles on the walls and floor.”

As long as the residents aren’t living in a haunted house, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Inspired by Fruits

A spokesman for HDB said that they will paint some of the walls white in order to “tone it down.”

The tiled areas will “remain”, to ensure that the lift lobbies are still of different colours to differentiate between the clusters of blocks.

According to the spokesman, the three colours were selected based on fruits: dragon fruit, mango, and mangosteen. How creative.

At least now we know that HDB wasn’t trying to replicate a horror movie set.