From impromptu play spaces, to functional swings and see-saws, and the iconic dragon playgrounds of Toa Payoh, Singaporeans of all ages will be able to take a fun-filled walk down memory lane at the first-ever extensive exhibition by the National Museum of Singapore, called “The More We Get Together: Singapore’s Playgrounds 1930 – 2030”.

Tracing the roots of some 100 years of Singapore’s playgrounds from the early 20th century to the future, the exhibition will take visitors on a “retrospective and prospective journey through four vignettes that encapsulate the important development” of local playgrounds here, said the National Museum and Housing and Development Board (HDB) in a joint press release on Friday (April 20).

Mr Lawrence Wong, who is Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance, officiated the opening of the exhibition on Friday (April 20).

Starting from before Singapore’s independence in the 1930s, visitors will learn how children had to make do with playing in any open space they could find as designated playgrounds were scarce. It was then that community-initiated playgrounds began emerging in areas such as People’s Park, Dhoby Ghaut and Katong Park.

Playgrounds quickly became an integral part of Singapore’s public housing estates in the 1950s and 1960s, and they initially comprised functional play equipment such as slides, swings and see-saws. The neighbourhoods’ playgrounds began to take on various forms and styles in the 1970s and 1980s, as the HDB designed and built the spaces from 1974 to 1993.

Visitors to the exhibition will get to see exclusive video interviews with Singapore’s pioneer group of playground designers, as well as view 12 original blueprints of the iconic mosaic playgrounds — including Toa Payoh’s much-loved dragon designs — by HDB’s first playground designer Khor Ean Ghee.

The playground time travel will then transport visitors to the 1990s and 2000s, where a demand for playgrounds that offered more adventurous and safe play for thrill-seekers led to the setting of standards and the rise of a new industry of local playground firms. The ubiquitous playground also became a more inclusive community space for the elderly, adults and children, with the spaces placed together with or in close proximity to fitness facilities to create intergenerational spaces for everyone.

The exhibition’s final vignette will bring visitors into the future, allowing them to contemplate and imagine their ideal playground, and how such spaces can continue to reflect Singapore’s community identity. They will be able to design their ideal playground of 2030 via an interactive, digital installation designed and developed by students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and young local creatives.

The public’s creations and feedback will help shape the concept and design of the National Museum’s first-ever permanent playground, which will be constructed next year and located near its iconic Banyan Tree.

The museum’s director Angelita Teo said that many who grew up in Singapore would have “fond memories” of their time spent at the neighbourhood playgrounds.

She added: “With the exhibition... we focus on these distinctive community spaces where people from different backgrounds gather, and uncover how the importance of playgrounds goes beyond their physical structures to include their place and meaning in our society.”

The exhibition will also include other activities such as a mosaic wall for visitors to pen their playground memories, and participate in a poll on their favourite mosaic playground design. Young visitors to the museum can also enjoy climbing on a rope play structure adapted from the rope pyramid in West Coast Park, one of the tallest play climbing structures when it was built in 2000.

To cater to visitors of all ages, there will also be after-hour tours, toddler programmes, “date nights”, and a “hackathon” for youths to pick up 3D modelling skills and design their ideal future playground.

Its opening weekend on April 21 and 22 will see the museum’s grounds transformed into a playground of “Bouncy Adventures” — inflatable playgrounds inspired by iconic designs from the past. There will also be artist workshops, film screenings, as well as balloon sculptures and craft-making sessions for the family.

Admission to the exhibition is free. It opens on Friday (April 20) and will run till Sept 30.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by TOH EE MING

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