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Published: August 14th 2012
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Gardens by the Bay is a new park with cool architecture and plants that wraps around Marina Bay (Singapore) and consists of Bay South (open), Bay East and Bay Central (still to developed). The newly opened Bay South has 59 hectares and is the biggest and most amazing of the Gardens by the Bay complex (it cost $ 500 million dollars). It includes a Chinese Garden, a Malaysian garden and other theme gardens from different countries that shaped Singapore. It also has 5 different lakes, one of which is surrounded by marshland and boardwalks.
SuperTrees It also has Super Trees that mimic real trees with solar panels ontop that generates enough energy to light up the Supertrees at night. The Supertrees vary in height from 25 meters to 50 meters and have over 163 species of climber plants. At the top of the highest Supertree are two restaurants. Because of the humid weather in Singapore, the concrete used to make the cores of the Supertrees would crack before it dried (another problem is that it rains a lot!) so the builders used the same method used to make the HDB flats in Singapore, they pre-cast it in a indoor facility
and installed it on site, they did this over and over till the tree was complete. They had to be careful not to crack the iron bars that held the concrete parts in place because then they would have to start the Supertree all over again (and they did not have time or money to start over.)
The Domes The two domes, were designed by Wilkson Eyre Associates. The biggest dome, the Flower Dome, is 1.2 hectares and houses plants from sub-tropical (Savannah and Desert climates) and Mediterranean climates. Some of the plants include several species of baobab trees, a flower meadow, several species of cactuses and other desert plants, olive trees and other palm trees. The Flower dome is organized into a sub-tropical section and a desert section on the eastern side, in the center, a flower grove, and on the western side are Mediterranean plants.The Mediterranean section is seperated into several sections, that is organized by geography. The sections are all Mediterranean climate but are in different places (Like California, parts of Australia and Chile etc.)
The Cloud Forest dome (0.8 hectators) is mainly mountain tropical with a few nothern plants thrown in. When you
enter, you see a waterfall pouring off from the top of the mountain, after that you will wind your way through the 'foothills', some Evergreen Trees and other plants. The mountain itself is a hollow concrete shell that is surrounded by vertical gardens so it looks like mountain covered in greenery. Then the foothill trail ends at a elevator and its best to take the elevator to the top (because all the escalators will be going down.) At the top is the 'Lost World' a little pond with some trees and plants that are such supposed be from 1,500 feet+. Then you go down a little bit onto a canopy walk that is high up in the air and you can see some more climber plants,you also have a good view of the dome. Then you go down to the crystal cavern where they have real crystals and geodes in this big cavern they made in the mountain. Then you went on this canopy walk through the 'Cloud layer' where they squirted out mist to make it look like clouds.
Inside the mountain, there was this exhibit called 'Earth Check' where they have all these computer screens,
maps, and data in real-time projected on the wall showing how much the ice is melting, how much the earth is warming, and etc. I really liked this section. It also showed some design solutions to cope with global warming like, vertical farming, solar panels etc. Then they showed this video about what would happen in the next 100 years if global warming continues. Then you came out underneath the waterfall and walked along a river until you exited.
Sustainablity In the 'Earth Check' it showed how Gardens by the Bay South was sustainable. First, the plant waste from parks around Singapore is trucked to a furnace where they burn it so it heats up water (which turns into steam) and turns a turbine that makes electricity.When the electricity is more than what Bay South needs, it is put into the local powergrid and the excess steam is then recycled back into water. When it rains, the water runs off the domes and other buildings into a marsh and is then naturally directed by hills into this marsh-valley which leades to Dragonfly lake. Then, a pipe takes water from that lake and uses it to water
the plants.
Architects Gardens by the Bay was designed by landscape designers Grant Associates (except the domes.)
Andrew Grant (head of Grant Associates) said, "
Our Plan for Gardens by the Bay was to create the most amazing tropical gardens in the world, incorporating cutting edge enviromental design and sustainable develoment principles. We want to capture peoples realationship with nature and use innovative technology to create a rich lifestyle, with recreational and educational experencies." He also said that the Supertrees was the best and biggest thing they did in the project.
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