Liu Taige is Chinese and his ancestral home is Huyang Town, Yongchun, Fujian. At the beginning of the last century, Liu's grandfather immigrated to Malaysia from China and ran shops and rubber factories for relatives. "Due to the good economic environment, my grandfather was able to send his son to China to study painting under Mr. Liu Haisu." Liu Taige said. "Later, my father went to Paris for another six years and did not come back until the 1930s." "My My mother came from a Manchu family in China, and my family was already very poor when I was born. However, at least I grew up in an atmosphere of art and culture. I was also influenced by my mother's elder brother, who was also a painter and calligrapher. "Naturally, Liu also wanted to be an artist. When he graduated from high school, there were no decent universities in Singapore, so he planned to go back to China to study like his father. But for some reason the trip was not possible.
"Later my mother told me that UNSW (University of New South Wales) in Australia had a work-study architecture program and asked me to consider it. In order to fulfill my mother's wish, I agreed, but asked I also want to learn to paint.”
While studying at UNSW, Liu Taige was also studying on-the-job painting courses at East Sydney Technical College. "However, in the fourth year, I suddenly realized that architecture was the career I wanted to choose, so I decided to specialize in architecture. Although I have always been very interested in painting and calligraphy, I have no regrets."
Liu Taige studied a 6-year work-study course. He worked for three architects in Sydney during his spare time. "One was John Nesbitt; one was Clement Clancy, who was very good to me; and the other was Milo Dunphy, who had a great influence on my thinking. I'm not a sporty person, but I often go for walks in the bush, and the impression The most profound one was a week-long trek with Milo Dunphy to Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. These experiences made me care about the environment and led me to promote the preservation of old buildings, as well as Singapore's swamps and secondary forests. Protection.”
Since then, Liu Taige’s path has been unusually “lucky”. In 1962, he graduated with first class honors. Afterwards, he went to the United States to study for a master's degree in urban planning. Three years later, this young man from Asia graduated from Yale University and successfully entered the office of I.M. Pei in New York.
Liu Taige studied architecture first and then planning, so he particularly emphasized that residential construction should be closely integrated with planning - in the eyes of his colleagues in Southeast Asia, this has become a personal label of his.
After the earliest "housing shortage", Liu Taige began to propose the concept of systematic planning for HDB housing development. "I think Singapore's HDB housing development should be combined with the concept of satellite towns. Of course, satellite town development is a Western concept. Their satellite towns are relatively small, with a maximum of 30,000 to 40,000 people. Our satellite towns must at least have 10,000 residents. 200,000 people. "Liu Taige said, "To adapt to Singapore's situation, there will be considerable modifications. We have organized different research groups, sociological, economic, and technical, to conduct specialized research." Thanks to the efforts of Liu and his colleagues, Singapore's satellite town plan was successfully implemented. Now, Singapore has several satellite towns with a population of 250,000 to 300,000 people. Their complete and convenient functions and scientific and reasonable planning have become a model for many countries to study and study.
Due to his outstanding achievements, in 1976, Liu Taike was awarded the Singapore National Day Public Administration Gold Medal. In 1985, he was awarded the National Day Distinguished Service Medal again. In 1989, the Research Data Center of the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of National Development of Singapore merged to form the new Urban Redevelopment Authority, and Liu Taiqi was appointed director and chief planner.
At this time, Low Tai Ke elevated the satellite town development ideas he had practiced during his tenure at the HDB to the level of overall urban planning to re-examine Singapore's planning. "We can use the development of satellite towns to restructure the city and inject new vitality into the old urban layout." A bold move by the Urban Redevelopment Authority is to vigorously develop regional centers in suburbs far away from the city center.
The south, centered on Raffles Quay and Orchard Road, has always been the most prosperous old city in Singapore. It has dense commerce and a large population, which has brought great changes to transportation, environment and the protection of the old city. pressure. “My idea is to establish several ‘urban corridors’ radiating from the southern center to the entire island through subways and light rails to alleviate the population pressure in the central area.
"Liu Taige explained his idea: "We especially combine the development of satellite towns with the development of satellite towns at far-end stations of the subway to build regional centers and attract people to disperse in all directions through commercial and service facilities. "
"There is another benefit to doing this," Liu added: "Only in this way can we truly protect the old city instead of over-using and developing it. "In 1991, Singapore won the United Nations "World Living Environment Award."
The slogan of "Home Ownership" is the ideal that Liu Taige has been fighting for for 20 years. In these 20 years, He devoted his whole heart and precious years to the realization of "home ownership". Therefore, even though it has been ten years since he left the HDB, he still talks about the issue of HDB housing. It’s irrepressible excitement.
“Corruption in public housing is endemic. Unlike Singapore, we don’t let middlemen make money. Liu looked very excited, "We have formulated a set of strict application procedures from the beginning to protect the rights of ordinary citizens to purchase HDB flats. Moreover, if the owner is found to have committed fraud, the HDB has the power to repossess the HDB flat. ”
“We do things very pragmatically because we have very few resources. We only have two standards for building HDB flats: one is that they are suitable for people to live in, and the other is that they are suitable for the majority of citizens who can afford the rent. In fact, many problems themselves are not complicated. The key is whether you are determined to implement them. I think the reason why Singapore’s HDB policy is successful is because we sincerely consider solving the housing shortage problem for the people. ”
In 1992, Low Tai Ke retired from the Urban Redevelopment Authority. His current main position is to serve as a director of RSP Singapore (RSP), one of the most famous design firms in Singapore, with more than 100 employees. 500 people, with projects spread across Europe and Asia
“Land prices in Singapore have risen so much. " Liu Taige sighed, "In 1969, the land price only accounted for 20% of the cost, but now the land price of some projects has exceeded 3/4. ”