Built in 1986, Balestier Point is an award-winning residential cum shopping development which derives its inspiration from the original cellular housing project called Habitat 67 designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie in Montreal, Canada.
Stacked like Lego bricks, local firm RDC Architects attempted to balance the privacy of homes with the density of community living by separating the shops from the homes in this mixed-use development, where commercial and residential spaces are combined into one. A unique feature of this development is that all the homes have their own terraces and gardens in the sky. This takes advantage of our tropical climate to create high-rise greenery.
Mixed-used developments are commonly seen in many shopping-residential complexes today. However, just across the road, you can see that this concept is not new as the original mixed-use housing in Singapore is perhaps the shophouses where commercial activities take place on the first floor and residential space is located on the upper floors.
Up till the early 1980s, this site was the old Ruby Theatre, the first movie theatre in the area that opened in 1958 showing mainly Chinese films. Perhaps the only reminder of the Ruby Theatre today would be the many namesakes in the area such as Ruby Plaza up the street and Ruby Apartments directly across the road.
Balestier Point won a Singapore Institute of Architects Honourable Mention Award in 1987.