pianomania: SINGAPORE'S HIPSTER PRECINCTS: MARGARET DRIVE MARKETPLACE

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day tired old Margaret Drive would someday become where hipsters hang out. One of Singapore's oldest public housing estates (or satellite towns, which we called them), Queenstown dates from the early 1960s, before the nation became independent. Margaret Drive was home to low-cost housing, cinemas centred around the once popular Tah Chung Emporium, hawker centres, a shopping complex with a bowling alley, several primary schools, the beloved Queenstown Library and even a prison (its most famous internee being Michael Fay).

Now that certainly looks like a Chinese coffin.

Over the decades, its early shine faded, with the population growing older and buildings losing their lustre. All of the HDB blocks were demolished including the iconic Margaret Drive Hawker's Centre. All that remains is Block 38, the very distinctive Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market, built by the SIT (Singapore Improvement Trust, HDB's forerunner), popularly known by the Chinese as the "Coffin Market".

Its design is unique in Singapore architecture from the 1950s. No other building like this exists in Singapore today, with its parabolic roof which allowed rain to trickle down its sides. After an extensive renovation, it's become a hipster eating place, like a mini-Covent Garden of Queenstown. All that is missing is an opera house. Completely air-conditioned, it houses cafes, restaurants and upmarket food stalls. There are health facilities and clinics on the second storey, a 24-hour gym and even a sit down mini-library.

It's all very new and posh now, and the demographic is considerably younger. The older folks prefer to hang out at the Margaret Drive Hawker's Centre (Block 38A) next door, where prices are more affordable, but there is no air con. No worries, as neighbourhoods gentrify and "upgrade", so do the accompanying environs. That's what we call progress.