12 minute read
RE-IMAGING SUNGEI PANDAN LANDSCAPE
Landscape architectural approaches to revitalize coastal habitats in a high-dense tropical city
NUS School of Design and Environment | Department of Architecture
LA4701 MLA Studio: Quarter, 14 Aug - 20 Nov 2017
| Fan Lei Helen | Gao Chen Chen | Kong Lingchang | Kuan Wai Tuck Victor | Lam Si Yun Swan
Liu Xiaolei | Nur Azilla Bte Nazli | Wang Hanfeng | Wang Zhe | Xu Linxin | Xu Yuexin
Yao Haomu | Yong Keng-Whye, Raymond
Tutor: Hwang Yun Hye | Melissa Yip Sui Ling
Published by CASA Centre of Advanced Studies in Architecture
Department of Architecture
School of Design and Environment
National University of Singapore
4 Architecture Drive
Singapore 117566
Tel: +65 65163452
Fax: +65 67793078
Copyright © 2018 Hwang Yun Hye (ed.)
ISBN: 978-981-11-6460-6
RE-IMAGING SUNGEI PANDAN LANDSCAPE
Landscape architectural approaches to revitalize coastal habitats in a high-dense tropical city
NUS School of Design and Environment | Department of Architecture
LA4701 MLA Studio: Quarter, 14 Aug - 20 Nov 2017
| Fan Lei Helen | Gao Chen Chen | Kong Lingchang | Kuan Wai Tuck Victor | Lam Si Yun Swan
Liu Xiaolei | Nur Azilla Bte Nazli | Wang Hanfeng | Wang Zhe | Xu Linxin | Xu Yuexin
Yao Haomu | Yong Keng-Whye, Raymond
Tutor: Hwang Yun Hye | Melissa Yip Sui Ling
RE-IMAGING SUNGEI PANDAN LANDSCAPE
Landscape architectural approaches to revitalize coastal habitats in a high-dense tropical city
Hwang Yun Hye
Loss Of Coastal Habitat Of Singapore
Situated in the tropics, one-and-a-half degrees north of the equator, Singapore is an island nation located in one of the most species-rich regions in the world. The land was originally covered by primary rainforests, mangroves and freshwater forests, harbouring thousands of floral and faunal species in a complex tropical ecosystem (H. T. Tan, Chou, Yeo, & Ng, 2007). In the mangrove forest alone, 56 of 70 of the world’s mangrove species could be found in Singapore, the most numerous in Southeast Asia (Yang, Lim, Sheue, & Yong, 2011). However, the clearing of land for settlements, starting from the late 1800s and continuing into post-war urbanization in the 1960s, have resulted in widespread deforestation, leaving less than 5% of the original habitats intact (Ng, Corlett, & Tan, 2011). Over the years, these local habitats are projected to further decreased and deteriorated as they become increasingly fragmented due to urban growth (Brook, Sodhi, & Ng, 2003; Corlett, 1992). Almost all of Singapore’s shorelines have been drastically modified to meet industrial, residential, water resource and recreational demands. Most of the natural sandy shores and river mouths on intertidal shores have been reclaimed, losing 65% of original coral reefs and decreasing mangrove forests coverage from 13% of the total land area in the 1820’s to 0.5% in 2011 (Yee, Ang, Teo, Liew, & Tan, 2010). These massive changes and fragmentation of the coastal ecosystem disrupts aquatic ecosystem processes, and decreases water quality (Friess, 2016a). According to the 2008 Master Plan and 2011 Concept Plan, however land development in Singapore continues unabated and planned land reclamation will result in additional losses of 33% of the existing mangrove area. It is apparent that many of eth natural coastal habitat face to shrinking area, increasing fragmentation, and encroaching by urban expansions (Lai, Loke, Hilton, Bouma, & Todd, 2015). This occurs in the context of climate change, which brings about mounting environmental pressures such as sea level rise, altered hydrological regimes and sediment supply (Burkett, 2012).
However, this does not mean that all coastal habitats are dead or we should stop the land development. As calls for conservation are often seen as impractical in the economically-driven state, alternative landscape architectural approaches are needed to address the social and ecological consequences of rapid development. It is unhelpful to see economic development and environmental conservation in a zero-sum game, where a clear winner or loser emerges in any contestation over a land lot slated for development. Instead, we look to find means of reconciling these objectives that are currently framed in opposition to each other and develop design strategies that could address both economic and environmental concerns.
Sungei Pandan
While existing mangrove forests are mainly located along the northern coast, originally the southwest shore had the largest mangrove forested areas in the main land of Singapore. Sungei Pandan is a remnant mangrove forest located along the stretch of Pandan river. It lies between the Pandan Tidal Gates and the Sungei Pandan Bridge. Of the original 219 hectare mangrove forest, only 9ha remain, in the form of an isolated strip within the industrial business zone in the Jurong district. The river has been dammed to form the Pandan reservoir with conventional engineering treatments that disrupts flow and separates the stream into two parts with distinct characteristics. The upper reaches of the river has been canalised with cemented banks and beds – it runs to the PIE and branches out to Sungei Ulu pandan at AYE. Across the PIE, with a continuation of Ulu Pandan Park Connector to Bukit Batok Nature Park, Sungei Pandan provides opportunities for nature walks and birdwatching. The lower part of the river still opens out to the sea, remains relatively natural ecosystem with stands of various mangroves including rare Apiapi Jambu, and became a home of avian residents of the watery forest and other mangrove fauna species. Besides a rich diversity of flora and fauna, the Sungei Pandan provided livelihood opportunities for a village of 135 human inhabitants many of whom was fishermen or prawn farmers before the area has been cleared in 1960’s. Sporadic informal fishing and bird watchers can still be spotted along the riverside, offering a vestige of the old kampong life that once thrived in the area.
Although this remnant of mangrove forest has been designated as a ‘protected’ park space by URA plan 2014, the coastal habitats in Sungei Pandan has a high risk of extinction due to the relatively small size of the mangrove forest and development pressures by highly urbanized neighboring contexts. The forest lined much of the canalized banks of the Pandan and Jurong rivers being surrounded by factories (Jurong industrial zone), heavily used ports (Jurong port), and managed park land styled urban greenery (West Coast park). Like recent port development cases of Singapore, it has also a strong possibility to transform the port land into mixed urban development in the nearer future as similar as other cases of coastal redevelopment (Wong, 2006).
The Sungei Pandan was selected as a ‘landing’ site and serves as a point of reference for all design activities – sites selected were inspired by findings from the coastal landscape and its surrounding context. Students chose his/her own design boundary along Sungei Pandan or in its immediate periphery, based on problem statements and topics arising during the research period, aided by the various design exercises and input sessions.
RE-IMAGING SUNGEI PANDAN LANDSCAPE
How can we effectively conserve the existing coastal habitats while meeting the increasing human development demands? Given the future development requirement and sea level rise, how could initial infrastructure planning be guided towards a sustainable coastal ecosystem and the diversity of wildlife? Beyond simply preserving the site, can landscape landscape architects propose design prototypes that can infuse greater ecological functions and diversity into the urban coastal context? How can design promote a healthier lifestyle that closer to nature for city dwellers? The studio aimed to answer these questions by devising new strategies and design applications of ecological principles, predicated on deep awareness of the multi-faceted nature of our city landscape and the intricate feedbacks between social and ecological factors in the city.
The studio highlighted the value of natural resources and ecological services, and propose ways to integrate them into our urban environments. We capitalized on the academic nature of the studio to develop ideas and schemes free of restrictions commonly faced in the practice, and beyond any constraints of political correctness. Multiple issues such as identity, multi-functionality, and livability have been examined.
THIS BOOK is a compilation of works from the studio. The first half of the book documents the sequential studio process from the beginning of preliminary research, site analysis and prototyping. The fourteen-week logbook is a useful demonstration of how initial activities and resources can be transformed into viable design proposals. The studio started off with site analysis as group work, giving rise to backgrounds of and motivation for subsequent design topics. Four approaches are emphasized from the studio: 1) developing a strong awareness of site specificity; 2) deepening our understanding of urban ecology; 3) producing a wide ranging spectrum across scales; and 4) encompassing various functional layers. Lastly, the reflections address all that we have come away with from every single experience we had during the entire studio process.
Reference Brook, B. W., Sodhi, N. S., & Ng, P. K. (2003). Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore. Nature, 424(6947), 420-426.
Burkett, V. (2012). Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities: Springer.
Corlett, R. T. (1992). The ecological transformation of Singapore, 1819-1990. Journal of biogeography, 411-420. **Friess, D. A. (2016a). Ecosystem Services and Disservices of Mangrove Forests: Insights from Historical Colonial Observations. Forests, 7(9), 183.
Friess, D. A. (2016b). Mangrove forests. Current Biology, 26(16), R746-R748.
Mark, J. M., & Dave, K. (2015). The Ecology of Urban Forests Routledge Handbook of Forest Ecology: Routledge. Ng, P. K., Corlett, R., & Tan, H. T. (2011). Singapore biodiversity: an encyclopedia of the natural environment and sustainable development: Editions Didier Millet.
Tan, H. T., Chou, L., Yeo, D., & Ng, P. (2007). The natural heritage of Singapore. Pearson Prentice Hall. Wong, T.-C. (2006). Revitalising Singapore’s Central City through Gentrification: The Role of Waterfront Housing. Urban Policy and Research, 24(2), 181-199.
Yang, S., Lim, R. L., Sheue, C.-R., & Yong, J. W. (2011). The current status of mangrove forests in Singapore. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Nature Society, Singapore’s Conference on ‘Nature Conservation for a Sustainable Singapore.
Yee, A., Ang, W., Teo, S., Liew, S., & Tan, H. (2010). The present extent of mangrove forests in Singapore. Nature in Singapore, 3, 139-145.
Our studio begun with a studio orientation by studio tutors, Ms. Hwang Yun Hye & Ms Melissa Yap. The students were assigned a couple of exercises to be completed throughout the course of the semester.
The first seminar was conducted by Dr Tan Puay Yok, Associate Professor of NUS Department of Architecture on Urban Greenery in Singapore. He explained the landscape planning policies and legal framework drafted out by the dedicated institutions in Singapore.
He left the students a little brainstorming question, whether do they think Singapore is really Ecologically Green?
14 Aug Studio Orientation & Seminar 1
15 Aug Visit to URA
The studio visited URA and they were given a talk conducted by Ms Celine Tan, Executive Planner (East) & Ms Kitty Khoo, Executive Planner (Central West) has has kindly agreed to give a talk on the broad strategies for the Great Southern Waterfront, Singapore. The students understood the Coastal Development strategies for the Great Southern Waterfront in Singapore. In addition to the 5 main ideas URA had proposed.
Idea 1, Housing, Mixed-Use, Entertainment & Leisure _ Idea 2, Expanding Network of Public Space _ Idea 3, Capitalising the Blue Assests _ Idea 4 _ Continous Waterfront _ Idea 5 _ Connect Green & Open Space
It was a well- planned and orientated focused seminar and field trip as it focuses on a specific topic which is, Singapore Mangroves. First half of the day, a seminar on "Singapore Mangroves" was conducted by Mr Dan Friess, Assistant Professor of NUS Department of Geography. He shares with Singapore Mangroves conditions & habitats. He also emphasized the importance of Mangroves.
The session was followed by Ms Chih Min Boo, an Ecologist, whom conducted a field trip to Pasir Ris Mangrove Park where she discusses about The Past & Present Coastal Landscape in Singapore. They venture dthrough broadwalks to understand the different habitats of Mangroves & using the knowledge they had with Mr Dan Friess earlier of the day and tried to applied on site
21 Aug Seminar 3 with Mr Dan Friess & Field Trip 1 to Pasir Ris Mangrove Park with Ms Chih Min Boo
23 Aug Field Trip 2 to Sungei Pandan (Site) to Kayak with Kayakasia Singapore
2 guests was invited to join them on their site visit, namely, Dr Tan Puay Yok, Associate Professor of NUS Department of Architecture Dr Shawn Lam, Tropical Rainforest Ecologist, President of the Nature Society Singapore
They were taught basic kayaking tips and instructions in order to stay focused and vigilant while kayaking down Pandan River to explore Sungei Pandan. This activity gave them a larger persepctive on how to view its' site surrounding conditions and keeping in mind what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints.
The second half of day was led by Dr Shawn Lam. He conducted a short walk through the Mangroves in West Coast Park to better share with them the current Coastal Landscape within the site boundary.
The session begun with Ms Lynette Loke, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, NUS, who gave us an overview of Ecologically Engineering Singapore's Seawalls.
The session was followed by Mr Ryan Micheal Shubin, Landscape Architect from Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl, who provided the students with a seminar on designing with Bio-Engineering, as well as the design developments of Bishan Park.
The seminar was followed by Exercise 1 and pin-ups of Exercise 2 whereby students share their site studies and research in their respective groups
28 Aug Seminar 5 & 6 by Ms Lynette Loke, NUS Biology and Mr Ryan Michael Shubin, RSD & Exercise 1 Presentation & Exercise 2 Pin-ups
2 guest reviewers were invited for Exercise 2 Presentation & individual Issues & Site Analysis Pin up, namely, Dr Jessica Cook, Associate Professor of NUS Department of Architecture Mr Andrew Toland, Lecturer, School of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney
Students shared updated and improved verson of Exercise 2, where 2 guest reviewers also gave them constructive feedbacks where they could work on, to improve their research and site studies skills.
4 Sep Exercise 2 Presentation & Individual Issues & Site Analysis Pin up with Mr Andrew Toland & Dr Jessica Cook
31 Aug Field Trip 3 to Labrador Park with Dr Shawn K.Y. Lum
The studio needed an extra field trip to learn and understand more about the habitats and species of coastal forest in Singapore which would be beneficial for their individual design ideas.
Dr Shawn Lum,Tropical Rainforest Ecologist, President of the Nature Society, took time off his busy schedule to conduct a field trip to Labrador Park where he patiently explained and discussed the different species of flora which could be found along the Coastal Forest
11 Sep Site Analysis & Issues Presentation
Students were required to propose their issue statement and also look for suitable approaches to reslove them Students presented their detailed Site Analysis & Issue statement across the studio, where they gave feedbacks and suggestion to each other
The session begun with Ms Melissa Yap, where she discusses about case studies in Singapore's future residential estate developments. Where it dealth with waterfronts, park connectors and broadwalks. Bringing people closer to the waterfront / river.
The seminar was followed by a briefing, regarding what students should work on and what they should present for their Mid Review.
18 Sep Seminar 7 by Ms Melissa Yap & Synthesis & Preparation for Mid Review
25 Sep Mid Review
3 guest reviewers were invited for the mid review session, namely, Dr Tan Puay Yok, Associate Professor of NUS Department of Architecture Dr Mark McDonnell, Associate Professor of NUS Department of Architecture Mr Kenya Endo, Landscape Architect of Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl
The reviewers gave the students a myriad of advice and offered design suggestions regarding their individual research and site issues and how the students could possibly progress towards design in their final review
Students returned back to their site in order to retrieve detailed findings and observations to back up their studies and research
They did models to showcase the site's surrounding context for better understanding and visualization during consultation. Sketches of different schemes were important to showcase design development
2 Oct Studio Consult 1
9 Oct Studio Consult 2
During this period, the students focused on the development of their design strategies, making them more realistic and specific to their sites.
Students might have returned to their targeted site to confirm feasibility of their design proposal with studio tutor.
More intensive studio sessions were needed to further refine individual works.
16 Oct Internal Review with Ms Liu Huei Lyn & Mr Shawn Lum
3 guest reviewers were invited for the final review session, namely, Dr Tan Puay Yok, Associate Professor of NUS Department of Architecture, Dr Jessica Cook, Associate Professor of NUS Department of Architecture, and Ms Liu Huei Lyn, Senior Landscape Architect Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore,
The reviewers gave the students a myriad of advice and offered design suggestions regarding their individual research and site issues and how the students could possibly progress towards design in their next semester.
20 Nov Final Review & Reflections
- 13 Nov Studio Consultation towards Final Design
2 guests was invited to join them on their studio consultation, namely, Dr Shawn Lam, Tropical Rainforest Ecologist, President of the Nature Society Singapore Ms Liu Huei Lyn, Senior Landscape Architect, Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore
The students presented their design development and the session concluded on a favourable note whereby they gave advice crucial to the progress of their projects for their final review
Preliminary Research
HISTORY OF JURONG DISTRICT 1930s-1980s
History Of Jurong District
The Sungei Pandan mangroves, found along the stretch of river that lies between the Pandan Tidal Gates and the Sungei Pandan Bridge, is perhaps the last remnants of the lush mangrove forest that had once lined much of the banks of the Pandan and Jurong Rivers that had been offered protection as the Pandan Forest Reserve.
Before 1961, Jurong was a tangle of mangrove swamps, jungle, farms and small kampongs. Like many other parts of Singapore at that time, it was still a vast wilderness of jungle and wasteland with no metalled roads.
Source: National Archives of Singapore (http://www.nas.gov.sg/)
