Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay is an independent organisation responsible for developing and managing one of Asia’s foremost garden destinations.
The Gardens is led by a multidisciplinary team of professionals who have been involved in the greening of Singapore and had worked alongside international and local experts to develop the Gardens. It has an in-house team of skilled landscape designers, horticulturists, arborists, engineers, plant health, garden and turf management experts, as well as plant research and orchid breeding professionals, who leverage on the extensive global network of plant sources cultivated during the development days, to continuously curate and grow the Gardens.
Guided by its vision to be a world of gardens for all to own, enjoy and cherish, Gardens by the Bay has earned numerous awards and accolades including the World Building of the Year in 2012, the President’s Design Award (Singapore) in 2013, the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Themed Entertainment Association in 2014, the Largest Glass Greenhouse (Flower Dome) in the Guinness World Records for 2015, and the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2016. These achievements are testament to the ongoing excellence of the Gardens and spur the team towards attaining greater success.
Gardens by the Bay brings to life the National Parks Board Singapore’s vision of creating a City in a Garden. The Gardens captures the essence of Singapore as the premier tropical Garden City with the perfect environment in which to live and work – making Singapore a leading global city of the 21st century.
In January 2006, an international master plan design competition was launched to seek world-class design ideas for Gardens by the Bay. It drew more than 70 entries submitted by 170 firms, from over 24 countries, including 35 from Singapore.
An 11-member Jury comprising local and international experts shortlisted eight teams and two winners were announced in September 2006; namely Grant Associates for Bay South and Gustafson Porter for Bay East, both from the UK. A decision was made to develop Bay Central later.
A public exhibition of the master plan concepts and models of the winning teams was held in September 2006 at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Over 10,000 people visited the exhibition and over 700 gave their feedback. An overwhelming majority 85% of those surveyed liked the features in the master plans and over 97% said they would visit the gardens.
Gardens by the Bay broke ground in November 2007, signaling the commencement of the Gardens’ development. Subsequently, development of Bay East Garden also commenced. It was developed as an interim garden to be used as a staging site for some of the rowing and canoeing events of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in August 2010. Following the YOG, Bay East underwent reinstatement works and was open to the public in October 2011.
A special preview of Flower Dome was held in November 2011 in conjunction with the World Orchid Conference (WOC). Some 300,000 members of the public visited both WOC and Bay South Garden.
To plan your visit or find out more information on the various activities and events at Gardens by the Bay, then visit their website at https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg
