“Despite the latest round of cooling measures and an environment of rising interest rates, we think home prices can continue to rise another 10% by end 2019. Home prices rose in four of the last five rate hike cycles, underpinned by healthy economic growth”, Ryan Ong, Journalist.

Permanent wall or partitioning are ideal for mass modular production. However, the ability to accommodate future changes is poor. Most buildings in the past are built to meet statutory and / or technical requirements without consideration for changing social / functional needs.

During the recent COVID-19 Pandemic, most are required to work from home. There will be people who will, on the first day after the lifting of the measures, race to meet colleagues and drink that office coffee. But there will be those who will want to continue working from home. The benefits of working from home are there for all to see. Current HDB apartment layout has only singular function - home where it limits the spatial function for work or even leisure.

Partition are referring to vertical structure like a wall that separates one part of a room from another, creating different spaces. In HDB, these partition are made up of party wall, shear wall, columns, and also internal masonry wall. The function and definition of these partition needs to be re-evaluated and re-think.

Flexible walls instead of permenant that separate the rooms have much flexibility to be taken out and re-introduced with adaptive partitioning.

Adaptive partitioning can be kept away by using sliding track system with furniture to replace fix-in-place wall. They can also be modular and movable furniture being move to places as partition. The concept is to free the space and give occupants flexibility to reorganise the space, allowing change in the constant of HDB apartments.

A typical layout of 4-Room HDB apartment, consists of a perimeter wall and internal wall. We identify the type of the wall and possible removal / demolition.

The internal wall between bedrooms has the most potential to be removed for a more flexible spatial usage. The adaptive partitioning is more flexible as compared to current fix-in-place wal.

Adaptive partitioning can be archived by using sliding track system with furniture. With top mounted track and built in wheels for the sliding furniture, the internal space can be easily re-configured and be flexible depends on the needs of occupants for various time of the day and week. The same can also be done using movable furniture.