Hdb Floorplans: The Best (And Worst) Layouts In Public Housing

[schiz0id 0]

Unfortunately, the toilet seems to be in dead centre of the house, which is a mega no-no fengshui wise based on my layman knowledge (from reading Joey Yap's book).

Anyone can confirm?

Otherwise I actually quite like the squarish layout as oppose to the usually rectangular 3 room layouts. The bedrooms are much closer to the toilet too (but yeah, the toilet is in the middle of the apartment lor).

Yup, confirm. My fengshui master also said the same thing. No-no to toilets in the middle of the unit.

Squarish layout is super favoured.

[PublicLife 0]

Unfortunately, the toilet seems to be in dead centre of the house, which is a mega no-no fengshui wise based on my layman knowledge (from reading Joey Yap's book).

*chuckle* Fengshui aside, my biggest concern with a flat like this is ventilation. After all, having the toilet and shower in the centre of the flat means that all the bad smells (after one has finished one's... ahem... business, there's always a pretty foul smell) and heavy moisture (after a shower) will linger in the home far longer than would be wise. Surely this can't be good for one's furniture... or the health of the flat's inhabitants!

[PublicLife 0]

I've nothing against homes with single, separate toilets and showers (although I would think it unwise to buy such a unit if you intend to house more than two people in such a flat... or else you'd end up with really long queues to use the toilet and shower every morning and evening!). In fact, I rather like this unit below:

Courtesy of Minimalist Home @ Farrer Gardens

I particularly like the large kitchen and generously-sized rear service balcony (why modern service yards are so very, very tiny is a real mystery to me... after all, Singaporeans haven't exactly gotten any smaller and, in my opinion, we have just as much or even more laundry to do nowadays!).

[PublicLife 0]

*chuckle* Fengshui aside, my biggest concern with a flat like this is ventilation. After all, having the toilet and shower in the centre of the flat means that all the bad smells (after one has finished one's... ahem... business, there's always a pretty foul smell) and heavy moisture (after a shower) will linger in the home far longer than would be wise. Surely this can't be good for one's furniture... or the health of the flat's inhabitants!

However, there are some flats with toilets in the centre that I think are much more sensibly laid out. Take this one for instance:

Courtesy of 5A At Cck

Again, issues of fengshui aside, at least the toilets here have ventilation windows that face out to the (quite large) service balcony (and not into the kitchen or passageway to the bedrooms).

Edited November 29, 2011 by PublicLife

[PublicLife 0]

*chuckle* Fengshui aside, my biggest concern with a flat like this is ventilation. After all, having the toilet and shower in the centre of the flat means that all the bad smells (after one has finished one's... ahem... business, there's always a pretty foul smell) and heavy moisture (after a shower) will linger in the home far longer than would be wise. Surely this can't be good for one's furniture... or the health of the flat's inhabitants!

My verdict is still out on this one though...

Courtesy of House Wacking And Renovation

All things considered, it's not a bad flat but I do have two major issues with it (or rather its designers... the HDB!):

(1) First, what's with the micro kitchen and bathroom-to-nowhere. Was the proper ventilation of bathrooms not an issue in the past (one door and no apparent windows... that's really smart... suffocation must be a major health hazard in this block )? And why is the kitchen so tiny (from the floorplan it looks smaller than my office pantry!)?

(2) Secondly, what's with the odd zigzag wall between the two bedrooms? Was it the result of some strange conviction in the importance of egalitarianism (did HDB think that to ensure that both bedrooms have exactly the same floor area, they should build a really weird wall between the two of them)?

[PublicLife 0]

As readers of this t-blog will know, the more skewed a HDB flat is, the more I'm amused by it.

So, in the category of OMG-this-is-hilarious is this gem:

As you can see from the diagram, the kitchen, master bedroom and toilets are stunningly angled at 45 degrees to the bedrooms. This has resulted in the Master Bedroom having an oddly angled corner, Bathroom 2 looking rather squashed, and there being no service yard at all (people in Punggol do not do much laundry in the eyes of the HDB, perhaps?).

Sigh, perhaps this is yet another product of a special HDB department known as 'let's see how strange we can make HDB flats and yet people will still buy them'.

[PublicLife 0]

Anybody got the following floorplan or similar? can share?

Well, this is a pretty common layout for new HDB flats (and new mass-market condos too!) actually. There are some RT t-blogs that feature flats with similar layouts, like this:

Courtesy of Segar Meadows Our 1st Lovenest

and this...

Courtesy of Compassvale View... My Home

Go dig around and I'm sure you'll find some more!

[strikingreality 0]

As readers of this t-blog will know, the more skewed a HDB flat is, the more I'm amused by it.

So, in the category of OMG-this-is-hilarious is this gem:

As you can see from the diagram, the kitchen, master bedroom and toilets are stunningly angled at 45 degrees to the bedrooms. This has resulted in the Master Bedroom having an oddly angled corner, Bathroom 2 looking rather squashed, and there being no service yard at all (people in Punggol do not do much laundry in the eyes of the HDB, perhaps?).

Sigh, perhaps this is yet another product of a special HDB department known as 'let's see how strange we can make HDB flats and yet people will still buy them'.

Another similarly skewed layout, except the common bathroom is in the kitchen rather than the corridor.

[strikingreality 0]

I am not sure what to make of this unit though...

(1) The door opens into the middle of the living room... where should I put the TV Console? There isn't a good location for it.

(2) The store looks like it is the divider between the kitchen and the dining. But if that's the case, why is the kitchen sink in the dining area?

(3) The rubbish chute! Why it is standalone like that! It looks like HDB drew everything then realised they forgot about the chute and just found some place to plonk it down.

Edited November 29, 2011 by strikingreality

[mae29 2]

Unfortunately, the toilet seems to be in dead centre of the house, which is a mega no-no fengshui wise based on my layman knowledge (from reading Joey Yap's book).

Anyone can confirm?

Sis Adi

You are correct! In feng shui, we do not like the toilets and kitchen to be located in the centre of the house.

Further, it is also no good to have toilets in the South sector of the house, and kitchen in North West sector of the house.

As this is not the feng shui forum, I won't comment further on the logic behind this theory. You can ask in my own t-blog.

[beluga 1]

Has anyone seen the floor plan the design and build 4A units opposite Yew Tee MRT? I remember visiting one of the unit during house hunting. From the entrance, you will first see the kitchen, followed by a long corridor with rooms at the side and finally the living room.

[sleek 2]

When we were looking for our new place, we came across this 5room in Boon Lay with only 1 seperated toilet-shower area in the whole place. Was really contemplating the place for the price and size but the lack of a second toilet was the deciding factor against especially with 5 people at home.

[beluga 1]

When we were looking for our new place, we came across this 5room in Boon Lay with only 1 seperated toilet-shower area in the whole place. Was really contemplating the place for the price and size but the lack of a second toilet was the deciding factor against especially with 5 people at home.

WTH is that thing on the bottom right? Looks like a giant WC....

[sleek 2]

hahaha i was wondering that too when i posted, it's the rubbish chute

[PublicLife 0]

Was really contemplating the place for the price and size but the lack of a second toilet was the deciding factor against especially with 5 people at home.

Woah... Really have to wonder what JTC was thinking at that point in time...

"Hey, boss, I think we should put the entrance to the shower in the balcony!"

"Yah. Good idea! People definitely want to walk through the balcony wrapped in nothing but a bath towel!"

"And we should also put the rubbish chute in the balcony so that people can...um...throw away rubbish on their way to the toilet!"

"Wah! Super great idea!"