ITE students clinch the Gold award in the Landscape Design Challenge at SGF 2022

The Sage Tree of Atlantis” by students from Institute of Technical Education (ITE) wins the Gold award in the Landscape Design Challenge at the Singapore Garden Festival 2022 (from L-R: student Gwendolyn Marie Tan Kay Shuen, lecturer Ms Chin Wei Jun, and student Tasswin S/o Vijaykumar)

Singapore, 30 July 2022 – Team “The Tree Musketeers” from Institute of Technical Education (ITE) emerged as the winner of the Landscape Design Challenge (LDC), a competition held at the Singapore Garden Festival (SGF) 2022, which is organised by the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology under the National Parks Board (NParks).  This was the 17 year old students’ first time participating in a competition and they were overwhelmed at having won the top prize.

The Landscape Design Challenge is a design-based competition that showcases landscape designs by students from Institutes of Higher Learning in Singapore. Held as part of SGF, the competition provides a platform for students to display their creativity and landscape design knowledge.

The competition highlights the professionalism needed in designing and building a landscaped area, and aims to encourage more youths to consider a career in the landscape industry. By simulating an actual work environment, students are able to put classroom learning into practice and are challenged to stretch their minds.

During the live competition on 30 July, 10 teams were given 4 hours to turn 10 plots of land into beautifully decorated gardens, in line with the theme “Botanical Fantasy”. Aside from the final garden designs, teams were also assessed on teamwork, variety of plants featured and project management – crucial skills in being able to complete the task.

The winning display, titled “The Sage Tree of Atlantis”, brings visitors on a journey to the underwater realm of Atlantis, which has been affected by the exploitation of its precious resources. Central to the display is a Safe Tree constructed using recycled plastic water bottles symbolising the hope that one day such plastic waste will bloom to serve new purposes in our lives. The three participating first-year students from ITE were Tiara Binte Mohamad Isnin, Gwendolyn Marie Tan Kay Shuen and Tasswin S/o Vijaykumar.

The Silver and Bronze place winners are from teams “QuITE Nice” and “Avant-garde” from  ITE and Singapore Polytechnic respectively.

Team “QuITE Nice”, who clinched the Silver award with their display “Passageway to Fantasia”, created a garden that was inspired by a fictional land called Fantasia that is covered in lush greenery with mystical creatures. The participating second-year students from ITE were Abdul Hannan B Mohamed Gazali, Cassandra Mary Png Hui Zhen and Riyad Qawi Bin Shaiful Yanis.

Team “Avant-garde”, who was awarded the Bronze prize, “Nature’s Boutique”, was inspired by the detrimental effects of fast fashion and have created a garden likened to Mother Nature’s boutique where its breath-taking clothing is made with items purely from nature. The participating second-year students from Singapore Polytechnic were Khoo Jun Wei, Hsu Sandy Oo, and Camarillo Gwyneth Zoe Lingling.

All competition gardens are currently on display at Eco-Garden, Singapore Botanic Gardens, as part of SGF 2022 till 9 August 2022.

For more information about SGF, please visit sgf.nparks.gov.sg or Facebook page www.facebook.com/SGGardenFest