A giant swing at the open lawn in Marina Bay and an elevated green deck at the Singapore River Promenade are just some of the 11 winning design ideas from a competition on how to redesign public spaces.
PubliCity is an initiative to involve the community in celebrating and enlivening public spaces through good design and programming. The competition was launched on 22 November 2013.
The giant swing idea, titled ‘Move On, The Dream Catcher’, kicked off with a dream to place a Singapore team in the World Cup.
The first thing two students envisioned was a giant goal post at the lawn in Marina Bay where football games could be hosted for the office crowd in the area.
But their idea took a playful twist.
Lee Wei Sen, a Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts student, said: “It may be too boring to just have a goal post because… (the) World Cup (is only held once in four years), so occasionally it can be transformed into a giant swing. You just need to detach the giant net and… hook on the swing, and it can be transformed into a giant swing.”
The students imagined having 30 people using the swing at a time, and they are hopeful their idea may one day be a tourist attraction.
The Lawn@Marina Bay was one of four public spaces that competitors were asked to liven up.
Other than entries from architects and urban designers, the mostly local submissions came from students and members of the public who are passionate about urban spaces.
Of the 160 submissions received, the open space at Sultan Gate in Kampong Glam had the most number of entries.
Choo Ying Hui, artistic manager at Hope Technik and team member of the winning idea ‘Unearthing the Past’, said: “That’s precisely the cultural node that we are interested in because this (place) is culturally very rich. It dates back… Kampong Glam is the first place that Sir Stamford Raffles actually (went). So we are very interested in this place because of that cultural issue.”
For Kampong Glam, Mr Choo and his team proposed using a lightweight truss that could be transformed from a walking platform to a screen.
The truss could form a shelter for activities such as flea markets, while the screen could be used for shadow puppet shows or performance art.
Other winners included designs for public spaces along the Singapore River Promenade and the Woodlands Civic Plaza.
Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee said: “Where possible, we will see if some of the ideas can be implemented, be it temporary and fun pop-up projects, or longer term installations or programmes, in consultation with the community and local stakeholders.”
Youth were not left out in having a chance to design around public spaces.
CUBE, which is an annual workshop and competition on urban planning for students, challenged them to plan a pedestrian-friendly precinct in the Kampong Bugis district. They were asked to specifically focus on public spaces and provide alternate modes of transportation.
