Year 3 Architecture Students awarded The Best Resilience and Peoples' Award for PLEA 2018

In Singapore, one main issue that is of great concern is the Thermal Comfort of the average Singaporean. Given our equatorial location, our tropical climate presents us with frequent situations of thermal discomfort.

As everyday users of the bus stop, one discomfort we often feel first hand is the lack of shade from the harsh sun. The problem we have observed is that the current bus stop shelters are insufficient in providing shade against the sun at any other time than noon. During these times, users seek the dismal shade provided, even if it is out of the boundaries of the bus stop.

As this is an everyday occurrence, as a group we believe it is of great importance and urgency that we can design a solution. Our suggestion is to implement a ‘Plug and Play’ system into existing bus stops.

From the get-go, our goal is to not contribute to demolition waste of existing functional bus stops, but to implement a system that could value-add to the existing shelters.

How our system works is by removing the seats of the existing bus stops and installing tracks to the existing bus stop shelters. These tracks allow our plug and play panels to run breath-wise of the bus stop.

The panels are used provide effective 360 degree shading. They rotate along the wheel and provide seating on one side. As these panels can be rotated to any angle and run along the track, they adapt to the unique characteristics of all sites and orientations. As such, they can be ‘plugged’ into any situation.

To allow the panels to be ‘played’ by all, the seats are chamfered along the edge to allow for full rotation alongside each other. They are also appropriately weighted and manoeuvrable. Consideration has also been made for the tracks that are in line with the bus doors to be halted, providing adequate room for circulation and movement.

The materials used are steel and timber for the frame. The steel ensures the strength of the panel while the timber ensures the panel and seat are not blistering hot from the sun. The louvers on the panel are attached via dowels to the frame and respond effectively to the tropical climate by allowing natural ventilation while providing shade.

Perhaps this issue has yet been resolved because of the unique site conditions every bus stop would pose. The issue of shading also involves resolving the moving sun angle throughout the day. As such, we propose this modular system to engage these permutations through community participation.

Furthermore, this is done in the hope that more would come to see public transport as an enjoyable experience and as a result, that fewer people would drive their own private vehicles. This reduces congestion on roads while reducing our overall fuel consumption.

This is done in the hope that as a society, we might become more resilient to the real issue of climate change.

Comments from the panel:

“This is a simple and clever proposal, which focuses on a real existing every day issue. The design solution is sensitive to the context, adaptable to daily changes throughout all year, providing an effective design. A fun and joyful shading scheme inviting citizens to engage.

This is a modest project describing a simple idea for providing additional shading to commuters waiting at bus stops in Singapore. The project is clearly and concisely presented, and its implementation should lead to considerable improvement in environmental conditions under the cities bus stop canopies. The panels are claimed to be “plug & play”, that is easy to put in place and operate so as to achieve complete shading under the canopy at all times of the day.”