Hello everybody,
How are you getting on? Hope you always safe and healthy wherever you are.
Last week I was invited to a site visit at Balestier area with my working partner and an architect based on our project working schedule. After the site visit, I passed by a beautiful park which is called Zhongshan Park. The beauty of park attracted me to walk inside and took a break.
The opposite of Zhongshan Park is Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (the founding father of the Republic of China). Therefore, I think the Zhongshan Park design was continued the master plan integration the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.
The overall site context that consisted the high-rise hotel, office towers, and low-rise commercial building. On the other hand was the mix developments adjacent to conserved shop houses in Balestiar area.
The park design is more like Modern Chinese concept. It integrates the existing site context in between Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and modern high rise hotel office towers with commercial buildings.
The Chinese Calligraphy Signboard with low shrubs design is bringing out the sense of China or Taiwan landscape design ambience.
The park environment made me recalled back my Taipei trip on 2017. I had visited some of famous parks and gardens in Taipei. The formal garden concept by the geometric planting design patterns, the trimming of the shrubs and groundcovers, and using sculptural planting to be garden featured planting, was inspiring me so much.
The planting selection in Zhongshan Park was more on fine leave type trees and shrubs which’s usually selected for Chinese garden design concept. Most of the trees and shrubs were pruned and trimmed due to regular landscape maintenance. Above tree is Bauhinia blakeana that also just finished pruning.
Continue my journey, I saw a big rock statue with Chinese Calligraphy “Tian Xia Wei Gong” which means the world is the public. The surrounding planted trees, Libidibia ferrea were just finished pruning too. The overall trees form were less flourish now.
The proposed seating were marked with red sticker means not allowed to be seated due to Covid-19 safety measure.
Bonsai type of Ficus microcarpa and groundcover of Sphagneticola trilobata were planted near to reflective water pool that creating the strong Modern Chinese Garden sense of place.
Sculptural plants such as Podocarpus macrophyllus were planted in separate planters on the platform level which symbolise the beauty of Chinese Style Garden.
The widen walkways are creating the passage to the public from the high rise hotel office towers towards low rise commercial building in the site context.
The seating along the walkways are provided for resting while enjoy the beautiful park views surrounding by the modern buildings.
Continue my journey, I reached a huge reflective pool with some rocks and gravels at the bottom of the pool. I felt bit disappointed as there was no fishes or koi in this such big water pool. Perhaps due to easy maintenance and long term park management.
The big Banyan Tree, Ficus benghalensis is the existing tree which’s retained during construction and development of the park. The uniqueness of the Banyan tree is enhancing the greenery views and providing shade to the hardscape of the park.
3 nos of trees were planted in one planter. This planting scheme made me recalled the same planting scheme in Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade. I was completed the As-Built Drawings for the contractors to hand over to related authorities.
The beautiful dark pink Bougainvillea sp. were planted at the planting area near to another park entrance. The mix planting with Cymbopogon citratus that exposing many bare and empty land which creating the bad views to the planting area. Suggestion to propose some groundcovers, gravels or turfing.
In the end of journey, I reached to another park entrance which placed another signboard with both Chinese and English words wrote Zhongshan Park.
This park is impressed as it has strong Modern Chinese feeling which I seldom see in other parks in Singapore.
Wish you have a wonderful day!
Thanks for reading.