Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

On the northernmost tip of the Singapore Botanic Gardens is an immersive landscape for learning and play that comprise the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden. Established in 2007, the original Garden was the first in Asia to be dedicated to children, as a response to the “strong demand for children’s programmes” with the objective of “cultivating awareness and developing appreciation” in children for nature and ecology . Initially spanning 2-hectares, the Garden accommodated children 9 years and below, until a 2-hectare extension was opened in 2017 that expanded the Garden’s demographic to include children up to 14 years old. While the expansion gave more families an opportunity to enjoy the Garden, the architectural and educational features of the landscape had to be reconfigured in a way that would resonate with the older children. The extension thus sought to develop on the successful focus on tactile and sensorial exploration that maps to the children’s school curriculum through hands-on or demonstrative workshops. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, the historic Botanic Gardens context necessitated a sensitive approach. Dating to 1859, the Botanic Gardens is a rolling landscape populated by mature trees with extensive root networks that present a particular challenge. The land designated for the extension housed large heritage trees that were earmarked for preservation, in addition to several historic structures that were uncovered during construction. This constraint produces an architecture that augments but yet without overpowering nature. Architecture is here envisioned as a vehicle that facilitates phenomenological experience by which space and landscape are united to produce an interactive learning opportunity. A workshop, involving small groups of children of mixed age groups, was conducted on site. Introducing the extension as a “Supergarden”, the workshop’s design exercise provided the project team with informative feedback through attentive observation while eliciting a spectrum of ideas, some of which were later materialized. The broad audience of children between 2 to 14-years old stipulated in the design brief posed the challenge of maintaining a coherent Garden narrative that could accommodate the widely differing interests of the various age groups. Each age group’s definition of play, in addition to the academic curriculum they face in parallel that they Garden has to resonate, prompted a design that would enable each individual child to from a pleasant and unique memory of the Garden. The project team postulated that there had to be a process of ‘graduation’ in the sense that as the children grew, they would be able to move on to a different part of the Garden, while remaining in a position of mentorship to the younger children. This community spirit and sense of ownership were deemed critical to the success of the Garden. As a unique space that encourages an embodied engagement with nature, the Garden and its extension demonstrates the case for more of such instructive landscapes that cultivate an appreciation for the environment for both children and adults through a process of habituation. The Garden reflects the value and importance our society accords to children and the development of their potential, in addition to providing families with valuable space for recreation.