Memories of the Void Deck as told by a former feral kid

12:42PM, Munich Airport

I am in the land of the Weißwurst.

I’m not even a fan of sausages on a regular day, and Weißwursts take my dislike to the next level. Why would anyone eat sausages that look like they’ve been drained of life?

Bleached? Zombified? 🙂‍↔️

…

As you can see, I have lots of time to indulge in random thoughts.

7 hours in fact, before my next flight out.

To this end, I’ve decided that I shall make good use of my time to blog… about my favorite childhood outdoor space in Singapore- the Void Deck!

I’ve had this post at the back of my mind for some time now and took a bunch of photos when I was back visiting in February this year.

Here goes a walk down memory lane. 💭

The Void Deck of Singapore

I wasn’t aware that the term “Void Deck” was a uniquely Singaporean one until I began Googling for the genius behind it.

If I were to use an American way of describing the Void Deck, it would be akin to vacant flex space at the ground level of high rise apartment buildings.

Photos to come. Just keep reading.

According to Mothership.sg, it was conceived by former Law and National Development Minister E.W. Barker who, back in the 70s saw children getting wet in the rain and thought it would be practical to create shelter on the ground level of apartment buildings.

Thank you, Mr. Barker, for your caring observation and common sense!

The void deck I grew up with, was anything but void. You know what children do when presented with large empty spaces?

They play make-believe.

They run without care.

They bike/skip/tumble/cartwheel and create magic.

The void deck was an integral part of my life from as far back as my memory serves, and it’s the context that appears in my mind when I think about childhood days. I’m a self-proclaimed feral kid- I refused to be home and would stay out all day if I could! 😺

You see an empty space, I see potential.

I’ve definitely roller-bladed and kicked a ball back in my days.

I’m grinning as I look at these photos. In these spaces I learned how to play badminton, ride a bike, draw out hopscotch lines and managed kids dynamics/politics.

There were no police cameras during my time, but there were definitely neighbors who watched me like a hawk and would ring up my mother if I was misbehaving.

The fact that the void deck opened onto this gigantic field made it infinitely awesome. I’d sometimes fly a kite!

My favorite game: Block Catching

My play day would often begin at the void deck. If it was a weekday, it would be 5PM, after school.

There was no need to ring up neighbors. Just be there and the fellowship would happen.

And if I had it my way each time, we would play Block Catching. I wasn’t much of an influencer then, so those occasions were rare, but when they do happen, I would have the BEST. DAY. EVER.

Block Catching, is basically Catch, but conducted across the entire block of apartments … where I happened to live in a MASSIVE one!!!!!

Here’s a map of my block:

L-shaped and 12 levels. There were only 2 adjacent elevators in the middle of the block back in my day and they stopped at 3 levels: Ground Level, Level 6 and Level 11.

These 3 levels were the only way one could get around from one end of the block to the other via a common corridor. There’s a 33% chance of getting ambushed the moment one steps out of an elevator.

Here’s a view of the common corridor.

The families living along this corridor would yell us or ring up our mothers if we made too much noise. One mother was all it took to shut down the game, so everyone tries to avoid that ultimatum.

Our priority strategy when using common corridors was to tiptoe to keep quiet, and prolong the game. And because these corridors are so long and wide open, next strategy was to get on hands and knees, and crawl to avoid enemy detection.

If you make it past the corridor, you’d get to use the flight of stairs.

Go barefooted, because the stairwell echoes.

Crab-walk against the walls. Never hold the handrails, or you’d be spotted.

My clothes would look like rags at the end of the day.

I loved it.

I have an elevator story

Our elevators were/are(?) fitted with urine-detection devices that would halt the elevator and essentially keep the urinator in the confined environment until the police arrived to open the door manually (and presumably either punish the perpetuator or give a strict telling off).

Yes, the police. Urinating in undesignated places is a societal crime, guys.

I’m laughing as I type this because this sounds plenty ridiculous and would 100% not fly in America, but it’s a thing in Singapore and our elevators are never urinated in.

Ok, well, not never. Because I have an elevator story right? LOL.

My 10-year-old neighbor urinated in it and jammed up the elevator one day when he was returning home from school.

The whole block came to know about it. And I mean, whole block. I heard about it from my mother, who had in turn heard about it from some neighbor.

Kid’s name was Louise. Last name initial: G.

Why do I remember that? Because I made up a song about his urination episode and broadcasted it whenever I was downstairs playing at the void deck.

I sometimes confuse being funny with being mean, and know now that’s called “bullying”.

A few weeks later, guess who had to go in the elevator? 🙀

Oh yeah, karma got me good. 

I literally cried as I held on to the skirt of my uniform, hoping that it’d act as a sponge while I prayed to God that the elevator kept going. My socks and shoes got wet.

If you’re reading this and hoping deep down that I ended up jamming the elevator, I don’t blame you. It would be funny and sad.

But I didn’t.

The doors opened and I was greeted with sunlight and humility.

As an adult, I’m often told that I’m very kind and empathetic. Now you know why.

When I wasn’t Running Around, I was seated at the Senior Citizen’s Corner

Part of the void deck would be built out to accommodate a Senior Citizen’s Corner. There were always seniors hanging out and watching TV during my time. Everyone knew everyone.

I always thought these were lions, but I now realized that they are foo dogs. The male would be with a ball, which represents the material elements and the female (in this photo) would be with a cub which represents the element of spirit. Foo dogs are symbols of spiritual protection.

Chinese chess tile inlay. None of my friends have ever beaten a senior resident. We gave up after a while.

This corner has changed since my time. The mailboxes were placed in the middle of the photo then, and there were round tables with stools where the mailboxes now are.

Those tables were where I spent hours and days on end studying for my GCE O-Level and A-Level examinations.

Even when I was not a feral kid, I was a feral student.

I needed to be out of the house for my brain to be at its best! I needed fresh air, the smell of grass and the occasional company of a loitering neighborhood cat. :)

The end!

Intrigued about Void Decks? Click here for an e-book by the National Heritage Board for more stories! 🇸🇬