Pulau Bahru

Pulau Bahru
Media
A photo of a waterfront in Singapore, showing the glass facade of a museum sitting in front of a residential tower.

The DotDesign Museum has been publicised by the government as the face of Pulau Bahru.

Location

Southeast Asia

Area

900 ha

Administration

Singapore

Population

1,550

Pulau Bahru (Malay: new island) is a 900-hectare artificial island and waterfront district located on the southeastern coast of Singapore. It was created through extensive land reclamation that began in 2025 and was completed in 2046.

Developed for housing with coastal parks and recreational spaces, Pulau Bahru was originally scheduled to open on October 1st 2049 with the unveiling of the DotDesign Museum, but the ceremony has been postponed following the assassination of Xu Shaoyong and a landslide in Bukit Timah.

Table of contents

  1. History
  2. Description
  3. See also
  4. References

History

Pulau Bahru was first mentioned in the early 1990s as a concept in Singapore‘s Master Plan. Due to the rapid onset of anthropogenic climate change, the government began doing technical studies accompanied by a vigorous campaign of public engagement in 2019. With around 30% of Singapore’s land sitting less than five metres above mean sea level, the island of Pulau Bahru was proposed to increase living space as well as alleviate the danger of rising sea levels. [1]

Physical land reclamation on Pulau Bahru began in 2025 and was completed in 2046, two years ahead of schedule. CommuneCorp, a major South Korean construction firm that specialises in land reclamation and marine infrastructure, was the primary contractor. CommuneCorp claims it would have finished earlier if not for the CMD pandemic, which disrupted its global logistics and operations for a significant period of time. [2]

Description

Pulau Bahru is situated on the southeastern coast of Singapore, stretching from Marina East to Changi. Land on Pulau Bahru has been reclaimed to a higher level to form a line of defence against rising sea levels. Its coastal perimeter includes fifteen outlet drains as well as new tidal gates and pumping stations to channel water into a reservoir.

Pulau Bahru comprises waterfront parks, recreational and low-density commercial spaces, and private residences. The island also features the first evolution of Singapore’s white flat programme, offering homeowners the option of sharing laundry and kitchen facilities in a communal housing complex known as The Ark. [3] Unlike the government’s long-standing approach of allowing new homeowners to purchase Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats years ahead of time, The Ark has still not been made available in the HDB system. [4]

Designed by ROJAK, the DotDesign Museum has been billed as the “capstone piece of architecture” of Pulau Bahru. [5]

See also

References

  1. Singapore Government. (January 2020). “Master Plan 2020.” Urban Redevelopment Authority. ↩
  2. Wang, F; Tausig, G. (February 2048). “Jurong Island finished two decades ahead of schedule, and it won’t happen again.” Rest of World. ↩
  3. Mishra, B. (January 2049). “One room to rule us all: the new normal in housing.” PropertyGenie. ↩
  4. Ledesma, P. (August 2049). “The Ark is still empty, months ahead of Pulau Bahru’s opening.” CNA. ↩
  5. Tan, S. (July 2049). “Making room for art to breathe.” The Straits Times. ↩