Rifle Range Nature Park: Reviving a former quarry into a green buffer

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, one of the last remaining primary forests in Singapore, is under threat from development and human activity. To serve as a green buffer, the Rifle Range Nature Park was designed to protect the reserve from edge effects and abutting developments as well as enhance ecological connectivity and providing complementary habitats.

Located at the site of the former Sin Seng Quarry that had been abandoned for 30 years, the landscape had poor soil conditions and overgrown scrub vegetation. Because of this, one of the project’s main objectives was enhancing biodiversity. A comprehensive nine-month baseline study on plant and animal life was conducted to strategise plantings that can improve soil quality, attract fauna and facilitate the park’s transition to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

A significant issue was surfaced through the study: the high numbers of roadkill along Rifle Range Road, where wildlife sought food. To protect the diverse and endangered wildlife, the design established safe routes in the form of culvert and arboreal crossings, including aerial rope bridges and nest boxes. These connections allow wildlife to safely access the park and extend to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, while also enabling visitors to observe animal life up close in their natural habitat.

Water management, crucial for ecosystem revival, was also central to the nature park’s design, which features a freshwater habitat restored from a backfilled quarry, widened streams, and water-sensitive elements like swales and raingardens that can support natural irrigation.

The park design has revived the area by restoring its natural forest and wetland habitat, integrating water-sensitive solutions, fauna protection, heritage conservation and inviting visitors into an engaging natural environment. Today, the area has a variety of nature trails that span over 7 kilometres in total, as well as being home to a diverse range of flora and fauna such as the critically endangered Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica), and the Horsfield’s Flying Squirrel (Lomys horsfieldii).

Rifle Range Nature Park is also the first net-positive energy nature park in Singapore, with the energy harvested from the photovoltaic solar panels installed around the nature park exceeding the expected annual operational energy consumption of the site. Due to its comprehensive landscape strategies, the project has been named a winner in the 2024 ULI Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence for the Open Space category.

PROJECT DATA

Project Name
Rifle Range Nature Park

Location
Bukit Timah, Singapore

Completion Date
2022

Site Area
67 hectares

Client
National Parks Board

Architecture Firm
architects61

Landscape Architect
Henning Larsen

Images/Photos
Finbarr Fallon

Related stories:

Landscaping for Singapore’s ‘identity corridors’

URA collaborates with Singapore Polytechnic to ideate landscaping for Singapore’s ‘identity corridors’

Did you know that Singapore is in the process of co-creating its land use and development plan for the next 10 to 15 years together with the public1 through the Draft Master Plan 2025? One of the public engagement activities is the shaping of five ‘Identity Corridors’ that has been outlined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 2022, building on their Identity Node initiative that was introduced back in 2002 to retain distinctive neighbourhoods.2 The five corridors are Thomson-Kallang (comprising Singapore’s north-south Transit Priority Corridor as well as the Kallang River); Historic East (from Old Airport Road to Geylang […]

The Park: A blue-green community ‘magnet’ in Vinh City

The Park: A blue-green community ‘magnet’ in Vinh City

This project establishes a community space within the 10-hectare Swan Lake Park to support residential developments in the Eco Central Park Vinh neighbourhood in Vietnam. Serving as a multi-use activity centre where residents can interact and connect, The Park provides functions such as a multipurpose hall adjoining a service kitchen, a jacuzzi, sauna, gym and yoga space, and public restrooms. These amenities complement the various activities taking place in Swan Lake Park, including routine exercises, camping and picnics, festivals as well as outdoor concerts. Site context Before construction, the site adjacent to the Lam River mostly consisted of vacant land […]

Read more stories from FuturArc 2Q 2024: In-between Spaces!