Beyond Just Green: NUS Landscape Architecture Students Lead the Way for SILA Student Design Awards 2024

Nine undergraduate and master’s students from the Landscape Architecture programme have recently triumphed in the Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects (SILA) Student Design Awards 2024 – Beyond Just Green, under the University Category.

The theme “Beyond Just Green” epitomises the intellectual rigour of the profession, inspiring creative design solutions within parameters determined by research and analysis. It aims to raise awareness that landscape architecture extends beyond the ‘green’ norms of designing with plants and gardens.

Both programme directors, Dr Terrence Tan (BLA) and Dr Victoria Marshall (MLA), enthusiastically congratulated the winners: “Congratulations on your outstanding achievement in the SILA Student Design Awards 2024! Your creativity and passion have truly shone through, setting a high standard for excellence. We are proud of your innovative designs and hope that your success will inspire our BLA and MLA students to reach even greater heights.”

Here are the winners and their outstanding projects:

Awards: Coen Design International Award – Gold, Best Design Showcase & Len-Til Award – Gold Outstanding Graphic Presentation
Project: Revival of The Current
By: Ching Wai Lum, BLA Year 4

The Revival of the Current project addresses severe water pollution in Baleendah, Indonesia, caused by industrial runoff and sewage. The proposal transforms the polluted drainage systems into an ecological park, utilizing biophilic water cleansing methods. By integrating engineering methods, constructed wetlands, floating wetlands, and a tiered gabion wall, water quality is enhanced and habitats for wildlife are created. The design includes a community center and interactive areas, fostering community engagement and education.

 

Award: Coen Design International Award – Bronze, Best Design Showcase
Project: Memoryscapes In Toa Payoh
By: Nur Sabrina Binte Shafari, MLA Year 1

While the initiatives like HDB’s Remaking Our Heartland (ROH3) and the Estate Renewal Strategy aim to rejuvenate neighbourhoods into vibrant spaces, their uneven distribution risks fragmenting the area and diminishing the community’s identity and heritage. ‘Memoryscapes in Toa Payoh’ seeks to address this by repurposing under-utilised spaces and thresholds between heritage landmarks in the heartland of Toa Payoh to reflect the town’s evolving identity.

 

Award: STX Landscape Architects Award – Gold
Project: Utilising Horticultural Waste as Sustainable Landscape Management Strategies for the NUS Campus
By: Amber Yong, MLA Year 2

Current waste practices focus on off-site composting, neglecting the biological characteristics and materiality of waste. This project employs scenario-based quantification to develop alternative resource flows and waste management strategies towards a circular bio-based economy. The project addresses how horticultural waste can be leveraged for maintenance and seeks to answer: What types and quantities of waste are generated from landscape management? How do different waste types correlate with resource consumption? How can interventions minimise carbon emissions and optimise resources?

 

Award: STX Landscape Architects Award – Bronze, Outstanding Contextual Analysis & Investigation
Project: Between Marsh and Farmland: An Alternative Landscape Planning Model For Lingang’s Ghost Town
By: Chen Yuxin, MLA Year 2

Despite 20 years of development, Nanhui Lingang New City in Shanghai remains sparsely populated due to China’s unique political and historical context. This project analyses the relationship between Lingang New Town’s history, Chinese political ideology, human development, society, and nature. Focusing on nature-based solutions, such as the restoration of salt marshes affected by reclamation and smaller interventions, the design thesis aims to provide a new urbanisation model, balancing urban development with natural restoration and creating opportunities for sustainable growth.

 

Award: Len-Til Award – Silver, Outstanding Graphic Presentation
Project: Tanah Aman
By: Nur Sabrina Binte Shafari, Cynthia Wee Su Yi and Janina Kwan (Group project)

Around the outskirts of Jakarta, Seed Town is a small rural settlement threatened by rapid urbanisation, unsustainable practices and ecological degradation. Titled Tanah Aman, meaning “peaceful land” in Indonesian, this proposal seeks to transform Seed Town into a Health Hub. This will be a self-sufficient prototype for future conversion of rural villages, relying on sustainable practices to establish resilience and supporting Indonesia’s agricultural policy of diversification. Establishing a holistic system will improve the site’s ecological, economic and physical health.

 

Award: Genesis Nine One Award – Gold, Social Impact Through Design
Project: Seoul’s Green Resurgence: Restoring Natural Heritage In The City Center
By: Alyssa Tee, MLA Year 2

Creating a new urban landmark, the proposal reads into the site’s profound history, taking inspiration from its “forested hill” character, further accentuating a different aesthetic and function from its surroundings, the urban jungle. Seoul’s unique culture physically manifests in several ways, but rarely is there an emphasis on environmental symbolism. This project envisions the development of a “Forest Leisure Park” that bridges ecosystems, timelines, and the community together, simultaneously addressing the government’s desires to promote stronger human-nature relationships.

 

Award: Genesis Nine One Award – Silver, Social Impact Through Design
Project: Kluang University Town
By: Liu Wenjia, MLA Year 1

The University Town of Kluang aims to integrate sustainable university campuses with the existing natural and social resources, fostering community growth and revitalisation. Using the university town as a new industry helps attract young individuals back to Kluang, promoting local education, employment, start-ups, and family life, thus ensuring the city’s long-term development. The project begins with the establishment of a main campus and two labs, utilising heritage buildings, vacant spaces, and farmland. These interconnected campuses facilitate transportation via rivers, cycling, and walking paths.

 

Award: Genesis Nine One Award – Bronze, Social Impact Through Design
Project: The Wandering Botanist
By: Sun Fengyu, MLA Year 1

The Wandering Botanist project is an exploration of possibility in engaging people in urban agriculture to create regional identity for newly reclaimed lands. Situated in an imaginary mixed-use area on the newly proposed “The Long Island” project at East Coast, Singapore, the design focuses on the production, distribution, and the culture of craft beer, with featured landscapes inhabiting aromatic plants for seasoning, social spaces for recreation, and business incubator encourages small businesses.

To read more about the award and the winning projects, click here to view the full publication.