Waterway Terraces is located along Punggol walk and situated rather close to Punggol MRT Station. The undulating white balustrades that were layered over one another to form the dense facade caught my attention as I emerged out of Waterway Point, a relatively new mall in Punggol. As I approached to get a closer view, I noticed the cascades of garden on the roof of the building. Intrigued, I went up.
Roof Garden
The idea of a roof garden is a great one. It creates communal spaces within the blocks and creates interaction among the residents. However, I do not really see the effectiveness in the roof gardens of Waterway terraces.
The only prestige of a roof garden are the views. However the promenade and the boardwalk on the ground floor extends into gardens and parks which are greener, and lakes which offer incredible views, thus diminishing the impact of the roof garden. Next, the people who would be using the roof gardens most would be the residents who have easy access to the garden; those that live in the upper floors. However, the numbers are limited. Is the garden attractive enough to continuously invite people to visit it? If not, would the garden just become useless?
What about the residents living on the lower floors? Would they come all the way up here to water the plants in the garden and exercise? Perhaps. Can the cascade of gardens be furthered to continue to the ground floor? Such that it forms a connection of green spaces that tie the whole building together?
All in all, it was a great experience for me. It was interesting to see how ideas are manifested onto a residential complex in different ways. I also learned how communal spaces can be crafted to facilitate certain activities and how it can bring people together.
