smallwheelsbigsmile: Bishan park with Lovecyclingsg 1st April 2012

Monday, April 2, 2012

Bishan park with Lovecyclingsg 1st April 2012

LCSG at the Bio filtration pond, Bishan park

This time the location of interest is Bishan Park which was recently launched with big fan fare from our Singapore PM Mr Lee Hsieng Leong on 17th March 2012.

A river runs through it..

Tobias and LCSG team at the start of Bishan PCN... ready to roll

Official Ra Ra aside, I knew it would be alot more meaningful for the LCSG crew as coming for the ride was Tobias Baur, who designed and worked on the new Bishan Park. He shared on that Bishan Park was designed using natural-like methods - for example meandering river paths to help create a nice place for people to use the river. It is not just a nice place but functionally the new design helps provide a more control of water flow to the water catchment area- Marina Barrage. He added with a windy and uneven riverbed helps to slow the water speed and it creates a nice biodiversity which more fishes, plants can grow.

Tobias sharing more details of the Bishan park design

This project was part of the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme of the Public Utilities board. What is ABC waters? More information here.
I also found this timelapse shared by Tobias of how the old Bishan canal turned into the new and natural river.

Pretty amazing change to me as I remembered Bishan park and the canal simply flows straight pass which was nothing interesting. Complete with metal railing that is purely functional.. no one care to have a second look. I was very happy to note that the new Bishan park feels so much more natural and fun. Not designed but feel very comfortable. I could see many people walking down to the river bed and exploring the place. Even more impressive is the "untidiness" of the place. Tobias explained the rough slabs of concrete were recycled from the old canal and reused to help form the new park. More than just the river, the design of Bishan park involved the design of eating places and also playground. We talked about the playground design and it was more edgy and innovative. And most importantly, sand was a medium for parts of the playground. In the name of safety, many of the playground have took out the sand. But I still think sand should always be used...why? So that children can play with it!

New playground stress tested by LCSG

Jasmine caught in the net

Carryme also want to explore the playground

I am very proud of the fact that this natural approach on design was used in the new Bishan park and the fact it was engineered with a more human approach to involve people to use the park for exercise, just relax around, play and have fun on the water.
After the informative tour of Bishan park, we headed to another SG gem, the old thomson road to have our breakfast followed by a nice relaxed ride on the old thomson road stretch and turn back to Bishan Mrt. Cycling distance was short but we returned with a better understanding on the new Bishan park design.