
Stand at the edge of the Bishan bus interchange is the Bishan Clock Playground. This classic mosaic playground stands frozen in time, watching as traffic passes by at the nearby road in front of it.
Thematic playgrounds are nothing new to HDB estates and one of the few remaining examples of this heritage is the Bishan Clock Playground just beside the Bishan Bus Interchange.
Bishan Clock Playground: Captured in Time
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In the early 1980s, HDB undertook the development of thematic playgrounds around Singapore. These early playgrounds were built out of concrete, terrazzo and mosaic tiles.
The Bishan Clock Playground is a holdover from an era in the 1980s when the Housing & Development Board was gung-ho in going about designing their own inspired playgrounds. Among its peers are the famed Dragon Playgrounds, the Elephant Playground and the Sampan Playground.
Many of the thematic playgrounds around Singapore have made way for development. Thankfully, there are still a couple of examples that have been preserved.
Less well known are the clock playgrounds. At Bishan, the Clock Playground at the Bishan Bus Interchange has been preserved and also enhanced to make it safer and more engagin for kids.
Sand Play with the Hut and the Alarm Clock
The Bishan Clock Playground stands in the middle of a semi-circular sand pit.
The sand pit is hemmed in by a wall that looks like battlements that you would expect to find on a castle. In a nod to coordinated design, the nearby building, Block 514A, also has the battlements motif.
Stepping into the sand pit, kids will come to the Clock Playground. There used to be set of teeter-totters in the sand pit but they have been removed.
The design of the Clock Playground is made up of two parts.
One clock, looking a bit like a cuckoo clock with a gabled roof, similar to the design of Bishan house estate apartment blocks, stands elevated on stilts. A clock face with the analog hands point to the time of 10.10.
Kids can reach to the platform with the hunt by using a green ladder at one side.
This ladder used to be sloped but now has been straighten. It has also been fitted with netting to make it safer for kids who are climbing up the ladder.
Kids can peer out from inside the cuckoo clock.
Inside, the platform leads down a small passage that connects to the terrazzo slide. Inside, the slide’s is a simple straight forward one. On the outside, the design features a cute alarm clock character. it has a yellow hammer popping out from its top, in between two “bells”.
The alarm clock character has a pair of hands and feet, in addition to the the hands of on the clock face.
Preserving the Past
While we do not really see many kids playing at the Bishan Clock Playground nowadays, we are still glad that it has been preserved by the HDB.
The Bishan Clock Playground is suitable for kids between the ages of 5 to 12 years old. If you are planning on paying a visit with the kids, do wear proper footwear and to supervise them while also perhaps reliving your own childhood memories.
This mosaic playground is a throwback to old times (no pun intended) and stands as a rare, precious and authentic symbol of childhoods past.
The Bishan Clock Playground can be found in front of Block 514C.