Nodes at Parks with NLB

Time is an imperative factor in our battle against climate change, where much is required of us to cope with an increasingly uncomfortable future. For us, we see the need to tap into our existing crafts to contribute and impart eco-friendly values to our communities. Our project aims to seek comfort in our discomfort. In collaboration with NLB’s “Nodes at Parks” project, we showcased 16 benches made from local wood that roved between various parks across Singapore.

The hourglass bench finds rest amidst our highly engaged world. Its hourglass shape, with its wood colour grading from light to dark, encapsulates time trickling away. This gradient is achieved by the different amounts of UV protection used to treat the wood. The more protected wood is brighter and looks newer, and correspondingly, the less protected wood darkens and ages more. Just like how different treatment of wood results in its different qualities, we want to impart that our small actions can have incremental consequences in protecting our environment.

The two benches now permanently resides in Pasir Ris Park.

Students from seven secondary schools painted these benches, inspired by metabolically designed architecture, to showcase their creative interpretations of NLB’s e-resources. These benches feature parts that are meant to be replaceable independently over time, in hopes of extending the bench’s lifespan. The bench is shaped comfortably for a one-seater and slightly limited for another. Embodying our increasingly depleting resources, such as water and oil, we all have to learn to share and accommodate — to squeeze a little on the bench to benefit more.

Through these pieces, we hope to spark more conversations and unity in this shared struggle against climate change. “Nodes at Parks” roved from Gardens by the Bay, to Jurong Lake Gardens, East Coast Park, and ended in Pasir Ris Park. QR codes on each bench direct the public to NLB’s e-resources, and educational videos produced by Republic Polytechnic students, to share more resources and information on environmental awareness.

To find out more about “Nodes at Parks”, you can visit NLB’s website here.