Hornbills and Talk Tubes: Singapore Poly students redesign Jurong Town Hall area and classrooms
The TLDR: Final-year students from Singapore Polytechnic’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment redesigned existing spaces to better serve users. ST looks at two projects – one that adds greenery and a boardwalk to the Jurong Town Hall area, and another that reimagines a typical primary school with mobile furniture in classrooms and a multi-sensory science garden.
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Singapore Polytechnic student Then Jing Ying's project, Peek-a-bill, translates the hornbill's habitat needs into immersive human experiences.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Kaelyn Fong
SINGAPORE – A majestic bird with striking black-and-white plumage perches on a tall tree overlooking Jurong Town Hall, long regarded as a hallmark of the industrialisation programme in Singapore.
It is the oriental pied hornbill, a species that inspired Singapore Polytechnic student Then Jing Ying’s final-year landscape design project, Flight Home: Jurong Town Hall (Peek-a-bill). The project reimagines the area surrounding the building, transforming it with lush greenery and a boardwalk.
The 22-year-old landscape architecture student chose the site as it overlooks the upcoming second Central Business District under the Jurong Lake District masterplan and is the only historic monument in the plan. Jurong Town Hall was gazetted as a national monument on June 2, 2015.
“Through site visits, I found out that in this particular area... oriental pied hornbills were seen relaxing,” Ms Then said. “(The birds) were witnesses to the process of industrialisation of Jurong Town Hall.”
She meticulously researched the birds’ nesting and eating habits. Her plan, therefore, included planting Indonesian bay leaf trees (Syzygium polyanthum), which are a food source for hornbills that feed on fruits.
She also recommended planting Pulai (Alstonia angustiloba), a softwood tree suitable for nesting, as hornbills require tree cavities to breed.
Her project name, Peek-a-bill, came from the boardwalk she designed for visitors to view the hornbills from a safe distance without disrupting their habitat.
The boardwalk is elevated so that it does not affect the nearby development of the Jurong Lake District MRT station on the Cross Island Line, slated to open in 2032.
As part of the project, Ms Then built a prototype of the redesigned landscape.
Her project was based on a brief from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
Ms Tracey Hwang, director (Urban Design, West) of URA, said the agency wanted to provide students with the opportunity to showcase their creativity and innovation.
“We hope to spark deeper appreciation among our youths for the planning considerations and trade-offs involved in shaping a liveable and sustainable Singapore and inspire them to be future stewards of Singapore’s urban environment,” she said.
“The students’ ideas provide fresh perspectives to help our planners gain insights into the aspirations of younger Singaporeans,” she added.
Meanwhile, working on a project statement from the Ministry of Education (MOE), Ms Faydra Neo Kai Juan, 20, focused on redesigning indoor spaces. She wanted to make learning more interactive and engaging for primary school pupils.
For her Playstate project, she redesigned different parts of a typical primary school, from classrooms to a science garden.
“I chose to focus on primary school pupils because at this stage, they are always curious and very creative. Moreover, their social skills are also developing, and that is very crucial for Singapore’s 21st century competencies,” the final-year interior design student said.
According to MOE’s framework, the competencies include critical, adaptive and inventive thinking; communication, collaboration and information skills; as well as civic, global and cross-cultural literacy.
For indoor spaces such as the classrooms, she used softer colours like blue, as her research showed the colour helps people calm down and focus. This is especially important for primary school pupils, who have limited attention spans, she said.
Singapore Polytechnic student Faydra Neo redesigned different parts of a typical primary school, from classrooms to a science garden, for her project, Playstate.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
In the classrooms, tables and chairs have wheels and can be easily moved, allowing for different layouts. This makes the classrooms flexible and student-centred, Ms Neo said. A writable, double-sided glass panel at the back of the classroom encourages creativity, friendly competition and cross-class interaction.
Her redesigned outdoor area includes a multi-sensory science garden. Unlike conventional school gardens, which are largely observational with a basic planting area and labelled plant species, her design promotes communication and interaction. It features Talk Tubes – sound cones connected by pipes – installed around the garden, allowing students to talk to each other across different locations within the garden.
For Ms Neo, designing the project was challenging, as “it was difficult to balance the playful part and the practical aspect”.
“Although I wanted to design a space that promotes self-directed learning, I didn’t want to overstep the teacher’s boundaries,” she said.
Mindful of teachers’ perspectives, Ms Neo sought their opinions and factored their proposals into her design.
She also developed virtual-reality simulations and a prototype to showcase her work.
MOE said it will conduct an internal review of the proposed concepts, assessing how they align with its existing school strategy and which ideas could best enhance the student learning experience.
