Tour 13
Site 1. West Spring Primary School
The project challenge was to create spaces within the built environment that continually stimulate students’ curiosity in mathematics, arts and culture, linguistics and sports; to create FUN spaces to keep young minds captivated and to promote lifelong learning.
Primary schools in Singapore are going through an important change in pedagogy. As Ministry of Education of Singapore’s curriculum changes to more experiential ‘hands on’ learning, the infrastructure for schools has to evolve and fulfill the MOE’s Vision and the Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Report released in January 2009.
This pilot project not only seeks to ensure the school has a unique identity but advances four areas of design; Flexibility in Learning Spaces, Co-Sharing of Facilities, Optimising Land Use and Environmentally Sustainable Initiatives.
With the completion of the project, MOE not only has a school that is in line with current issues like land use and sustainability but also a platform that matches it’s changing curriculum to advance learning in Primary school education.
Site 2. Crest Secondary School
This new specialised secondary school is set up by the Ministry of Education Singapore for (Normal Technical) students to further enhance the quality of students’ learning experience. The project calls for retrofitting of an existing secondary school and building of a new Indoor Sports Hall (ISH) to house 900 students with an estimated Gross Floor Area (GFA) of 23,000sqm.
The new Student Galleria serves as the main axis for the new school incorporating life learning experience & physical preparation to face the real world. Group activity & interaction is the main focus to strengthen the character of the student through the design of the interesting space along the axis. A more informal Garden Walk was introduced as a meandering circulation path linking the academic blocks, connecting the school seamlessly while reducing travelling time.
Tour 14
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve being Singapore's first ASEAN Heritage Park and one of the two first Nature Reserves to be gazetted, boosts an intricate ecosystem and a variety of flora fauna residing amongst the Mangroves Mudflats & Wetlands. In recognition of its intrinsic richness of ecology and learning opportunities, the design brief calls for a new Masterplan to redevelop Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, with the extension of a new 31 hectare Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, formerly known as the Kranji Trail, to strengthen biodiversity conservation and enhancing its status as a premier Outdoor Education Learning Park and Research Centre. The extension is a development by National Parks Board (NParks) Singapore. A network of three new nature trails provides a 1.65km of experiential encounter with nature, comprising of several walking routes designed at different planes and heights for visitors to experience different niches within the Reserve, ranging from mangroves, river edges to freshwater ponds. The 120m long elevated Mid-Canopy Boardwalk immerses visitors in the understory of the secondary forest and observation pods located at various vantage points offer visitors different perspectives of the Wetland Reserve. Intended to be the formal gateway to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Extension with minimal interventions to the ground, a new Visitor Center is articulated as a series of pavilion roofs reduced to simple inclined planes with walls that frames the inherent greenery backdrop amidst the thick secondary forest. “Enclosures” exist as unobtrusive elements co-existing with the mature vast greeneries. Sensitivity in the design of the development is also demonstrated from the commencement of the design to the completion of construction such as the adoption of Environmental Impact Assessment, Biodiversity Impact Assessment and implementation of the Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan. The Wallace Environmental Learning Laboratory, WELL, is part of the Wallace Education Centre in Dairy Farm Nature Park. WELL is named after Dr Alfred Russell Wallace (1823 – 1913), an English naturalist, evolutionist, anthropologist, social critic, theorist and author of the classic travel book The Malay Archipelago. Wallace came to Singapore on 20 April 1854 to study the island’s natural history and collect specimens. WELL, established by Raffles Girls’ School and NParks, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline and supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB), is the first outdoor environmental learning laboratory in Singapore. WELL is developed with the objective of promoting environmental education through fieldwork; in parallel with environmental education, many other interdisciplinary learning opportunities are also afforded through WELL, which is a one-stop learning centre for scientific research, national education, community service, teacher training and international exchange. WELL’s design concept is to use sustainable materials for a laboratory set up that allows flexible usage. It is divided into 3 zones; the audio-visual-library corner, display entrance and learning laboratory area. The lab is stocked with equipment and materials including binoculars, microscopes, electronic data loggers, lab apparatus, implements for fieldwork and survey, and a library of books on natural history, botany, and biology. Technological innovations can be used to promote environmental education through the cooperation of teachers and scientists. WELL is available for partner participating schools to run their own programmes. This will provide more opportunities for RGS and partner schools to work closer together on programmes, community service or other research projects. Further, RGS has founded a WELL Community of Teachers (WELLCOT) and will share all training and consultancy for field studies with WELLCOT. WELLCOT, a community of interested educators drawn from different primary and secondary schools, MOE HQ and NIE, is conceived for the purpose of meeting the outcome to ensure WELL can fulfill its objective on a sustainable basis. At present, 23 schools are members of WELLCOT. The team comprises educators from the various disciplines: Geography, History, Biology, Lower Secondary Science and Primary Science. Site 1. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
An Ecological Jewel | Rich Biodiversity of Wildlife
Orchestrating Varying Wetland Experiences & Encounters
“Touching the Earth lightly”
Site 2. Wallace Environmental Learning Lab (WELL)
Background
In 1929 Cold Storage acquired 60 acres of land in Bukit Timah, converted it into a dairy farm with the Friesian cows from Europe, and began production of fresh milk for the local population. It was only natural that the place be called Dairy Farm. Two Dairy Farm cowsheds have remained to this day. The area in which they lie, mostly untouched by modernization, still teems with biodiversity and possesses a heritage of national and ecological significance. These buildings have been refurbished, one of them turned into the Interpretive Centre, run by NParks, and the other into the Wallace Environmental Learning Laboratory, or WELL.Objectives of WELL
Facilities & Technology Enabling at WELL
Partnership with Schools and Institutions
WELL will also provide professional development to equip educators with competency in fieldwork, equipment handling and care for the environment. Formal programme and curriculum development training on-site is needed to equip educators in the proper delivery of field studies and research programmes.
