2002/12/26
NUS has three different apartment complexes for faculty apartments.
The newest set of buildings is Kent Vale, which is about 15 minutes
walk from the School of Computing, where I work. I first looked at
the apartments there. They were partially furnished with sofa and
dining tables, desks, built in dressers and bedframes. On top of
that, a refrigerator, washer, stove and A/C units were already
installed. This was different than my visit to Gillman Heights, the
other option for housing, which is about 10 minutes by car (not very
walkable). Once I entered the unit for Gillman, I was sold. First,
the unit is larger; a 3 bedroom rather than a 2. Actually the number
of rooms in the KV and GH apartments are identical, as the Kent Vale
ones have a small study instead of the extra bedroom. But the
floorplan and materials in the Gillman units were much nicer. And
thus it was an easy choice to make. You can see the pictures of the
Gillman unit, and its floorplan. The Gillman unit doesn't come
with electrical appliances of any sort, which is a big problem. So I
am currently in the process of buying A/C units, water heater, oven,
washer and refrigerator. This disparity was explained to me by a
number of senior faculty who were surprised at my choice of Gillman
(given the convenience). Originally, all units came without
appliances and bedding but as visitors complained that they would have
to front these startup costs (and note that much of these things
don't often get sold secondhand here). As such, the housing office
made an adjustment recently to provide appliances, starting with the
Kent Vale units. They haven't gotten around to doing the newly
renovated Gillman units.
The newest set of buildings is Kent Vale, which is about 15 minutes
walk from the School of Computing, where I work. I first looked at
the apartments there. They were partially furnished with sofa and
dining tables, desks, built in dressers and bedframes. On top of
that, a refrigerator, washer, stove and A/C units were already
installed. This was different than my visit to Gillman Heights, the
other option for housing, which is about 10 minutes by car (not very
walkable). Once I entered the unit for Gillman, I was sold. First,
the unit is larger; a 3 bedroom rather than a 2. Actually the number
of rooms in the KV and GH apartments are identical, as the Kent Vale
ones have a small study instead of the extra bedroom. But the
floorplan and materials in the Gillman units were much nicer. And
thus it was an easy choice to make. You can see the pictures of the
Gillman unit, and its floorplan. The Gillman unit doesn't come
with electrical appliances of any sort, which is a big problem. So I
am currently in the process of buying A/C units, water heater, oven,
washer and refrigerator. This disparity was explained to me by a
number of senior faculty who were surprised at my choice of Gillman
(given the convenience). Originally, all units came without
appliances and bedding but as visitors complained that they would have
to front these startup costs (and note that much of these things
don't often get sold secondhand here). As such, the housing office
made an adjustment recently to provide appliances, starting with the
Kent Vale units. They haven't gotten around to doing the newly
renovated Gillman units.
