Siglap East's Walls of Inspiration and Food Fiesta

The Siglap East’s Walls of Inspiration and Food Fiesta are two winning ideas from the HDB Build-a-thon challenge organised as part of the HDB Community Building Seminar held in May 2014. During this challenge, participants – from public and private organisations as well as academic institutions – gathered fresh ideas from residents on building better neighbourhoods in Canberra (Sembawang) and Siglap East (Bedok).

: Siglap East’s Walls of Inspiration

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In 2015, residents of Siglap East came together to design and create six mural walls in their estate. The objective of this project is to transform void deck walls into conversation nodes where neighbours can meet and interact over shared interests. Each wall has its own theme and an interactive board for the community to share and exchange information relating to the respective topics.

Through consultations with residents, six themes were identified for the mural walls, namely Sports, Art, Flora & Fauna, Ethnic, Food and Travel.

Sports Wall

Residents left their mark by sketching their favourite sports on ceramic tiles before signing their initials on them. Over 1,000 tiles were created and mounted on the wall through a series of 5 workshops.

Art Wall

Using art to express the identity of Siglap East, residents co-created this wall by drawing elements that symbolise Siglap East.

Ethnic Wall

To celebrate diversity in the Siglap East estate, residents were invited to bring along their personal ethnic items like musical instruments, childhood games etc., for a workshop where their neighbours produced sketches of these items. The community’s sketches were then incorporated into the wall design. To complete the wall, residents came together to trace, paint, cut and layer pieces of paper onto the wall to form the artwork.

Flora and Fauna Wall

Residents were invited to produce sketches of their favourite flowers, which were later incorporated into a mural design that spread over 3 void deck pillars. The murals, created using paint and markers, feature the local flora and fauna in Singapore.

Food Wall

Siglap East residents and Temasek Primary School students painted their favourite local delicacies on wooden plates. These wooden plates were then mounted on the wall, beautifully complemented by paintings done up by artists and the Temasek Primary School art teachers.

Travel Wall

Travel stories were collected from the community as residents shared anecdotes of their most memorable overseas trips and favourite travel destinations. Workshops were then conducted for residents to paint the iconic landmarks of these destinations on the wooden plates designed to resemble postcards. These “postcards” were then mounted next to paintings of the various iconic landmarks belonging to the selected travel destinations.; Food Fiesta

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It’s sedap in Siglap! One interesting fact about Siglap East is that the community shares mangoes harvested from the mango trees within the neighbourhood. Opportunities for neighbours to interact and bond are created when they gather to collect, distribute, and enjoy the mangoes together!

Extending the idea of using food as a strong community connector, a Food Fiesta was organised in October 2015, in conjunction with the unveiling of the completed Food Wall (Siglap East’s Walls of Inspiration). Grassroots Adviser Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman graced the event and joined over 100 residents in a celebration of their contributions towards the Siglap East’s Walls of Inspiration project.

Residents demonstrated how they would use the Food Wall to interact with their neighbours and posed proudly with the wooden plates that were painted by them.

To encourage greater inter-ethnic understanding and a deeper appreciation of each other’s culture, residents taught fellow neighbours how to wrap vegetarian dumplings, weave ketupat cases, and blend mango lassi.

Games, fruits, and popiah-making sessions were also prepared by the grassroots leaders for the Siglap East community.