People's Park Complex being repainted red and white

Chinatown's modernist icon People's Park Complex, which is being studied for the possibility of conservation, will sport a fresh red-and-white look later in 2025.

- Ng Keng Gene

The choice of colours has led some, including one of the building's architects, Mr Koh Seow Chuan, to associate it with Singapore's national flag - which is apt, given that works are taking place in 2025, the 60th anniversary of the country's independence.

But "the colour scheme was not specially chosen to mark SG60", People's Park Complex's managing agent Claire Dixon-Lim told The Straits Times.

It "was recommended by a designer and approved by the building's management council", she said, adding that the facade rectification and repainting works are slated to end before the fourth quarter of 2025, depending on weather conditions.

Ms Dixon-Lim said the red-and-white scheme will be used on the building's facade and inside the mall.

The mixed-use development, completed in 1973, was last repainted in 2009, when its then orange-and-green facade made way for a yellow-and-green coat.

It has to be repainted now as the existing paintwork would be affected by facade rectification works that are required.