It was completed only last year, but Waterway View - a new housing precinct in Punggol - is meant to evoke the rustic past.

Inspired by the estate's early beginnings as a "kelong", or fishing village, the 10 blocks have been given a textured facade that mimics wood, and their outdoor decks have columns that resemble stilts.

Six outdoor canopies look like traditional Malay fishing traps, and the blocks are staggered to allow as many as possible of the 1,057 families there to enjoy the view of the waterway.

For these distinctive architectural features, the project's consultant, ADDP Architects, took home the top award for design work in Housing Board buildings.

The architectural consultants and building contractors for 31 projects will be recognised for their effort in a ceremony today, the HDB said yesterday.

This is the largest number of awards given out to date.

The agency also announced a new category this year to recognise innovative engineering solutions.

For their inventive polder development method for land reclamation on Pulau Tekong, Royal Haskoning DHV and Surbana Jurong Consultants were given the Innovative Engineering Award for design.

This method involves building a dike around an area to be reclaimed and draining the water from it, allowing the reclaimed area to be built at a lower level and significantly reducing the amount of sand needed.

Another award winner is P&T Consultants, which built West Terra @ Bukit Batok, the first public housing project to use pre-fabricated volumetric construction technology. With this method, 3D units like bathrooms and kitchens are built off-site in sheltered conditions and added later, increasing productivity and safety, and reducing noise and dust.

It was the predecessor to the pre-fabricated pre-finished volumetric construction (PPVC) method, where the units come fitted with floor and wall finishes, window frames and a preliminary coat of paint. The PPVC method will be implemented in 35 per cent of new HDB projects by next year.