A Living Lab for the Kampung Spirit: NUS Nasi Ulam Forest Garden Awarded by ASLA
Our Landscape Architecture student project, “Nasi Ulam Forest Garden: A Living Lab,” has received a 2025 ASLA Student Honor Award in the Student Community Service category. This student-led initiative reimagines a rewilded campus landscape that blends nature conservation with community farming, rekindling the Kampung spirit of connectedness. By mobilising the University community and collaborators, manicured lawns have been transformed into a living laboratory with integrated food-growing functions, boosting biodiversity, preserving sociocultural values and enriching learning opportunities. The garden fosters environmental stewardship and showcases how rewilding can redefine urban green spaces, offering a model for institutions to combine natural processes with thoughtful human intervention for a more sustainable campus.
Since 2021, our Nasi Ulam Forest Garden has been an alternative green space composed of edible and spontaneous plants that thrive together under selective maintenance. It features around 30 edible species, including fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs that make up the ingredients of Nasi Ulam (Malay mixed-salad rice), layered with naturally grown tree saplings and wildflowers.
The student team comprises Wen Ting Toh (BLA 3), Wan Ching Tee (BLA 3), Yi Wei Goh (BLA 3), Zenn Lim (BLA 3), and Cleon Lai Yi Hui (BLA 4), supervised by Assoc Prof Yun Hye Hwang. We also thank the University Campus Infrastructure (UCI) team, Mahadi Bin Sugiri and Ang Chee Wee; our photographers Dr Terrence Tan, Dr Ervine Lin and Sumaiya Azad; Boo Chih Min of Camphora EIA Consultancy; Cheong Weei Gan from Nature Society (Singapore); and Alika Ho Wei Lun, edible gardener, for their contributions.
Learn more about the award-winning project here: https://www.asla.org/2025studentawards/11963.html
About The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
Founded in 1899, ASLA is the professional association for landscape architects in the United States, representing more than 15,000 members. Landscape architects lead the planning, design, and stewardship of healthy, equitable, safe, and resilient environments. The Student Award winners represent the bright future of the landscape architecture profession in the General Design, Residential Design, Analysis & Planning, Research, Communications, Student Collaboration and Student Community Service categories.
