good morning good afternoon my name is
yella I’m a landscape architect’s and we
think about trees when we talk about
trees we all have different images and
reference images if I ask you to think
about trees you all have your own image
some go back to the compound
think about the trees how they lift
there some go back to the tree that sits
next to air next to us next to in our
park and think about the emotion we have
with that tree our land our lives have
changed I just recently moved from the
Netherlands to Singapore and I went from
a single home to a 31 story apartment
tower and I’ll now live on to the 15th
floor so my life has changed from
walking out of the door into my grass
and I’ma and and smelled the seeds of
flowers but also the smell of fresh
mowed grass into a city that buses every
day and when you and I walk to work walk
to work we take the elevator
way too busy we don’t say good backup
good morning to everybody we just walk
into the subway and we just we’re on our
handphone and we just don’t look what’s
around us and then we go into the mall
on our way to work in and were inside we
even work inside we have dinner and
lunch inside so why do we spend so much
money on public Ram why do we spend so
much money and implanting trees what is
so important about that well our left
has changed were 24/7 available for
everybody
it goes from social media to what we
read into the newspaper studies have
learned us that 30 years ago we were
able to capture two and a half pages of
text just think about two and a half
pages of text today that has 200 times
multiplied so is it strange that so no
and then we have this moment of I don’t
know it anymore I’m tired I sense it as
a sense of fatigue fatigue and many
studies have learned us that to get away
from this moment of fatigue we think
about great spaces
and in many of those great spaces we
think about that one specific tree it’s
a three where we first kissed it’s the
first Street where we met I met my wife
there it’s the place where I carved our
names into a tree am I allowed to do
that no of course not but hey well I
just did it so in a way we have an
emotional connection towards nature
towards this tree there’s one big thing
about trees isn’t when you and I plant
them we plant them small and so this
Park has to grow it starts with a simple
tree and over many many years it becomes
this lush environment where you go back
to and where you sit into the grass and
you look up and you see a snake a bird
you hear this you smell the grass you
feel the the leaves falling of a tree
when the seasons of course so in a way a
tree or in the context it’s dancing it’s
just a symbol of time it takes time to
grow and sometimes this tree is
connected to that place and helps you so
there’s no more need to tell that trees
are important in our life in Singapore
trees are important if they even have
their own page into a guidebook then you
know trees are importantly to Singapore
is this new not at all our former
founding minister-president started in
1963 with planting the first three on
Forest Square did he do that because he
loved trees probably but he had a bigger
thought thinking about that he was
thinking about how can I make sure that
Singapore has this great place to come
to only from an economical point of view
he changed the strategy from being in an
economical place a hub to if some
Singapore becomes clean and green then
we reinforce our status as a place
within Asia throughout the many years
we’ve been planting trees we’ve been
cultivating these trees we’ve been
maintaining these trees not only from a
government point of view but also you as
the community you took ownership of
these trees and you’re proud to say we
are the greenest city
in Asia planting trees is a very simple
thing planting trees is a balancing act
especially into a place like Singapore
you need to think about the species of
the tree we need to think about the
maintenance of this tree we need to
think about the place it grows in to
Seoul the medium the water it gets all
of this to make sure that we’ve got this
manicured city to retreatin so that you
and I can actually go to the park and
just enjoy that feeling of getting away
from the bus and the house of an
everyday of everyday life so in a way
the term the city in a garden or the
garden in a city whatever you want to
call it is great for Singapore but what
is the next step where do we go from
today from now on Singapore will
continue to grow and a lot of people
think that the growth country can
represent it and shown into how
beautiful architecture is look at the
Marina Bay and how architecture is just
there buildings are showing how
beautiful and modern the city of
Singapore is we as landscape architects
think a little bit different and we
think about the context or in look at
the building we are in today look at
what is outside there’s a combination of
architecture urban design landscape
water green icon ecologically snakes as
well there is something there and we
think and we believe in it in an
ecosystem that holds all of these
elements together rather than thinking
tooth 2d which happens in a lot of
countries around us the city of
Singapore is thinking three-dimensional
it is thinking about where do we plant
that tree and what is the size of it
where do we park our tree how high is
the building but it also thinks about
how can we bring that green and AB tree
closer to us nothing new a lot of our
hi-tech is already along on this and
they’re thinking about how can we bring
trees too closer to you how can we bring
close trees at the elevations having sky
gardens and roof gardens at the 30th
floor is nothing new it’s already there
there’s one thing that is lacking to us
we believe that there’s a fundament
problem there Green is just for
decorative purpose
there’s no ecology system behind it
there’s nothing that says here I am
grounded within the place at the 30th
floor
there is no Bo there is no butterfly
there is no earth that whispers and says
good morning to you when you open your
front door so we were thinking we hope
that we can think about this third
dimension bringing ended up from the
earth all the way until the top and what
does that mean again this is something
that is growing for many years and in
many years we’ve been thinking about how
do we go from the bottom all the way to
the top how do we reconnect this
emotional connection to nature and how
do we redefine that just imagine you’re
at the 12th floor you open your window
and instead of hearing the bustle and
hustle of the city below you two cars
the train the flood the airplane that
flies over you open the window and what
you hear are beasts you see butterflies
you see the layers of trees they think
about how does that influence my life on
a daily base layered over layers of
trees and green connected as one system
we believe in this project and together
with colleagues architects we defined
the Khumbu morality component morality
in in in its project is a small village
on its own where you connect people with
the place they are in their everyday
life and we connect them with the park
this building has everything in it from
a parking garage to an MRT station to a
Medical Center you lift there you
recreate in it but you also have this
garden in it and this garden is publicly
accessible for everybody this garden is
the solution vironment for water for
trees for you and I to recreate it to
play in and to reconnect ourself with
nature nature is a great word but what
if you also make sure that it is
sustainable by water but also by eatable
fruit by having the possibility to
harvest that piece of vegetable and take
it with you into your garden
or it to your kitchen they do that from
the bottom up you allow people to walk
in to connect with that green to touch
that green and take it with them back
home that’s how we believe that you
reconnect with nature on the block
itself now the city execs exist out of
multiple blocks and together that forms
a new neighborhood baited areas for many
of you a historical place with a
beautiful nature beautiful trees ground
covers you go into there’s a heritage in
it this place has been retransform did
to a place where people will be living
HDB’s are currently pumping out of the
ground as as munched mushrooms and as
part of this thinking about new city
building we had to think about that
landscape were in how do we make sure
that that existing landscape where we
love to go to is reconnecting ourselves
is is bringing new cultures bringing new
identities so that we can live in it so
that we can recreate in it that we can
just submerse yourself into these places
nothing happens on its own isn’t this is
a whole system that works together where
we think about water rainwater falls how
do we harvest it and how do we make it
visible again into public landscape it’s
thinking about okay we reduce square
meters from nature and how do we bring
it back how do we reinforce existing
structures where animals and fowl and
flora was living by increasing
biodiversity by adding more plants in it
and making sure that this one lizard for
example remains into this neighborhood
and we do that with planting we do that
with trees and we create accessibility
we will create paths so that you and I
can enjoy being in that landscape and
getting submersed into a plan that
actually connects us together with
Mother Nature the zone only so much we
can do the pie is only so big we only
have so many square meters within the
city most of our thinking still happens
into here’s a park here is an app HDB
and here is a street that’s because the
organization from a government has been
organized that way
so we have to comply to certain roles
within a street to certain rules within
a park to certain rules within a
building what if you say let’s not do
this anymore what if we stack everything
on top of each other and we think as a
pie a pie that we stack on top of each
other and say look the world gets bigger
and bigger and bigger and so we can
divide the pie up in multiple ways this
is where our project Punggol district
digital district comes in we call it PDD
within the studio so if I if you hear
PDD then you know it’s bungle digital
district this is a new development on
the north east corner of the city next
to Sarah Geun water reservoir and what
is happening there is that multiple
clients have joined themselves into one
group and saying okay we’re gonna think
across the boundaries we’re gonna think
not in segments anymore
I do the street you do the park you do
the building work on I think as one what
this does is it creates a landscape
where water greenery smart technology
building comes together into a new
environment for students who will study
here for young businesses who grow up
here who who become like this start up
movement but also the schools this
universities there is an MRT station
there’s a Hawker Center there’s a
there’s a hostel and a hotel is all
coming and that all is connected into
one new urban district well what does
the landscape architect then do there
again he thinks about that tree he
remember the three I started with well
we started thinking about trees and how
can trees reinforce this community and
we designed a promenade that will run
from the heart of of pongo the digital
district towards the waterfront and it
created this lush environment for you
and I to live in to connecting to go to
to meet each other to have luncheon to
just enjoy that moment to breathe so if
we’re done with working or all we have a
lunch break instead of going into the
hawker Center down in to – Martin – – we
go outside with
outside we enjoy the environment that
we’re living in and that we do along a
long stretch there is more we also think
about the green spaces inside the
building green spaces inside the
building helped us to create a natural
air we see the Sun we can breathe but it
also takes us away from the daily stress
we have in an office space so we go into
the green and we relax and so the
multiple buildings within this this this
development have multiple layers of
green in it that allow you to reconnect
to breathe and to get that air and
sunlight that we need and deserve
throughout the day that’s the way we
think within our studio about Landscape
Architecture and trees in a way we see
them as a 3d Avella 3d development an
intersection of multiple layers laying
on top of each other and that creates
landscapes landscapes that you and I can
recreate and we’re found and flora and
we coexist next to each other where we
meet each other where we are able to
research again where we do we come from
where do we go to but also it helps us
thinking about you know what it was a
busy day today I just want to sit with
my feets into the water and I’m fine
with that
think about that tree again the tree
doesn’t have to be in a farm memory or
in an ID or in a dream but it can be
outside your door and it’s connected
within an ecosystem that allows us to be
who we are
thank you [Applause]
yella I’m a landscape architect’s and we
think about trees when we talk about
trees we all have different images and
reference images if I ask you to think
about trees you all have your own image
some go back to the compound
think about the trees how they lift
there some go back to the tree that sits
next to air next to us next to in our
park and think about the emotion we have
with that tree our land our lives have
changed I just recently moved from the
Netherlands to Singapore and I went from
a single home to a 31 story apartment
tower and I’ll now live on to the 15th
floor so my life has changed from
walking out of the door into my grass
and I’ma and and smelled the seeds of
flowers but also the smell of fresh
mowed grass into a city that buses every
day and when you and I walk to work walk
to work we take the elevator
way too busy we don’t say good backup
good morning to everybody we just walk
into the subway and we just we’re on our
handphone and we just don’t look what’s
around us and then we go into the mall
on our way to work in and were inside we
even work inside we have dinner and
lunch inside so why do we spend so much
money on public Ram why do we spend so
much money and implanting trees what is
so important about that well our left
has changed were 24/7 available for
everybody
it goes from social media to what we
read into the newspaper studies have
learned us that 30 years ago we were
able to capture two and a half pages of
text just think about two and a half
pages of text today that has 200 times
multiplied so is it strange that so no
and then we have this moment of I don’t
know it anymore I’m tired I sense it as
a sense of fatigue fatigue and many
studies have learned us that to get away
from this moment of fatigue we think
about great spaces
and in many of those great spaces we
think about that one specific tree it’s
a three where we first kissed it’s the
first Street where we met I met my wife
there it’s the place where I carved our
names into a tree am I allowed to do
that no of course not but hey well I
just did it so in a way we have an
emotional connection towards nature
towards this tree there’s one big thing
about trees isn’t when you and I plant
them we plant them small and so this
Park has to grow it starts with a simple
tree and over many many years it becomes
this lush environment where you go back
to and where you sit into the grass and
you look up and you see a snake a bird
you hear this you smell the grass you
feel the the leaves falling of a tree
when the seasons of course so in a way a
tree or in the context it’s dancing it’s
just a symbol of time it takes time to
grow and sometimes this tree is
connected to that place and helps you so
there’s no more need to tell that trees
are important in our life in Singapore
trees are important if they even have
their own page into a guidebook then you
know trees are importantly to Singapore
is this new not at all our former
founding minister-president started in
1963 with planting the first three on
Forest Square did he do that because he
loved trees probably but he had a bigger
thought thinking about that he was
thinking about how can I make sure that
Singapore has this great place to come
to only from an economical point of view
he changed the strategy from being in an
economical place a hub to if some
Singapore becomes clean and green then
we reinforce our status as a place
within Asia throughout the many years
we’ve been planting trees we’ve been
cultivating these trees we’ve been
maintaining these trees not only from a
government point of view but also you as
the community you took ownership of
these trees and you’re proud to say we
are the greenest city
in Asia planting trees is a very simple
thing planting trees is a balancing act
especially into a place like Singapore
you need to think about the species of
the tree we need to think about the
maintenance of this tree we need to
think about the place it grows in to
Seoul the medium the water it gets all
of this to make sure that we’ve got this
manicured city to retreatin so that you
and I can actually go to the park and
just enjoy that feeling of getting away
from the bus and the house of an
everyday of everyday life so in a way
the term the city in a garden or the
garden in a city whatever you want to
call it is great for Singapore but what
is the next step where do we go from
today from now on Singapore will
continue to grow and a lot of people
think that the growth country can
represent it and shown into how
beautiful architecture is look at the
Marina Bay and how architecture is just
there buildings are showing how
beautiful and modern the city of
Singapore is we as landscape architects
think a little bit different and we
think about the context or in look at
the building we are in today look at
what is outside there’s a combination of
architecture urban design landscape
water green icon ecologically snakes as
well there is something there and we
think and we believe in it in an
ecosystem that holds all of these
elements together rather than thinking
tooth 2d which happens in a lot of
countries around us the city of
Singapore is thinking three-dimensional
it is thinking about where do we plant
that tree and what is the size of it
where do we park our tree how high is
the building but it also thinks about
how can we bring that green and AB tree
closer to us nothing new a lot of our
hi-tech is already along on this and
they’re thinking about how can we bring
trees too closer to you how can we bring
close trees at the elevations having sky
gardens and roof gardens at the 30th
floor is nothing new it’s already there
there’s one thing that is lacking to us
we believe that there’s a fundament
problem there Green is just for
decorative purpose
there’s no ecology system behind it
there’s nothing that says here I am
grounded within the place at the 30th
floor
there is no Bo there is no butterfly
there is no earth that whispers and says
good morning to you when you open your
front door so we were thinking we hope
that we can think about this third
dimension bringing ended up from the
earth all the way until the top and what
does that mean again this is something
that is growing for many years and in
many years we’ve been thinking about how
do we go from the bottom all the way to
the top how do we reconnect this
emotional connection to nature and how
do we redefine that just imagine you’re
at the 12th floor you open your window
and instead of hearing the bustle and
hustle of the city below you two cars
the train the flood the airplane that
flies over you open the window and what
you hear are beasts you see butterflies
you see the layers of trees they think
about how does that influence my life on
a daily base layered over layers of
trees and green connected as one system
we believe in this project and together
with colleagues architects we defined
the Khumbu morality component morality
in in in its project is a small village
on its own where you connect people with
the place they are in their everyday
life and we connect them with the park
this building has everything in it from
a parking garage to an MRT station to a
Medical Center you lift there you
recreate in it but you also have this
garden in it and this garden is publicly
accessible for everybody this garden is
the solution vironment for water for
trees for you and I to recreate it to
play in and to reconnect ourself with
nature nature is a great word but what
if you also make sure that it is
sustainable by water but also by eatable
fruit by having the possibility to
harvest that piece of vegetable and take
it with you into your garden
or it to your kitchen they do that from
the bottom up you allow people to walk
in to connect with that green to touch
that green and take it with them back
home that’s how we believe that you
reconnect with nature on the block
itself now the city execs exist out of
multiple blocks and together that forms
a new neighborhood baited areas for many
of you a historical place with a
beautiful nature beautiful trees ground
covers you go into there’s a heritage in
it this place has been retransform did
to a place where people will be living
HDB’s are currently pumping out of the
ground as as munched mushrooms and as
part of this thinking about new city
building we had to think about that
landscape were in how do we make sure
that that existing landscape where we
love to go to is reconnecting ourselves
is is bringing new cultures bringing new
identities so that we can live in it so
that we can recreate in it that we can
just submerse yourself into these places
nothing happens on its own isn’t this is
a whole system that works together where
we think about water rainwater falls how
do we harvest it and how do we make it
visible again into public landscape it’s
thinking about okay we reduce square
meters from nature and how do we bring
it back how do we reinforce existing
structures where animals and fowl and
flora was living by increasing
biodiversity by adding more plants in it
and making sure that this one lizard for
example remains into this neighborhood
and we do that with planting we do that
with trees and we create accessibility
we will create paths so that you and I
can enjoy being in that landscape and
getting submersed into a plan that
actually connects us together with
Mother Nature the zone only so much we
can do the pie is only so big we only
have so many square meters within the
city most of our thinking still happens
into here’s a park here is an app HDB
and here is a street that’s because the
organization from a government has been
organized that way
so we have to comply to certain roles
within a street to certain rules within
a park to certain rules within a
building what if you say let’s not do
this anymore what if we stack everything
on top of each other and we think as a
pie a pie that we stack on top of each
other and say look the world gets bigger
and bigger and bigger and so we can
divide the pie up in multiple ways this
is where our project Punggol district
digital district comes in we call it PDD
within the studio so if I if you hear
PDD then you know it’s bungle digital
district this is a new development on
the north east corner of the city next
to Sarah Geun water reservoir and what
is happening there is that multiple
clients have joined themselves into one
group and saying okay we’re gonna think
across the boundaries we’re gonna think
not in segments anymore
I do the street you do the park you do
the building work on I think as one what
this does is it creates a landscape
where water greenery smart technology
building comes together into a new
environment for students who will study
here for young businesses who grow up
here who who become like this start up
movement but also the schools this
universities there is an MRT station
there’s a Hawker Center there’s a
there’s a hostel and a hotel is all
coming and that all is connected into
one new urban district well what does
the landscape architect then do there
again he thinks about that tree he
remember the three I started with well
we started thinking about trees and how
can trees reinforce this community and
we designed a promenade that will run
from the heart of of pongo the digital
district towards the waterfront and it
created this lush environment for you
and I to live in to connecting to go to
to meet each other to have luncheon to
just enjoy that moment to breathe so if
we’re done with working or all we have a
lunch break instead of going into the
hawker Center down in to – Martin – – we
go outside with
outside we enjoy the environment that
we’re living in and that we do along a
long stretch there is more we also think
about the green spaces inside the
building green spaces inside the
building helped us to create a natural
air we see the Sun we can breathe but it
also takes us away from the daily stress
we have in an office space so we go into
the green and we relax and so the
multiple buildings within this this this
development have multiple layers of
green in it that allow you to reconnect
to breathe and to get that air and
sunlight that we need and deserve
throughout the day that’s the way we
think within our studio about Landscape
Architecture and trees in a way we see
them as a 3d Avella 3d development an
intersection of multiple layers laying
on top of each other and that creates
landscapes landscapes that you and I can
recreate and we’re found and flora and
we coexist next to each other where we
meet each other where we are able to
research again where we do we come from
where do we go to but also it helps us
thinking about you know what it was a
busy day today I just want to sit with
my feets into the water and I’m fine
with that
think about that tree again the tree
doesn’t have to be in a farm memory or
in an ID or in a dream but it can be
outside your door and it’s connected
within an ecosystem that allows us to be
who we are
thank you [Applause]
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