Classroom lesson 路 Gardens by the Bay - the Supertrees馃嚫馃嚞 Singapore

Gardens by the Bay - the Supertrees

Giant metal-and-plant 'trees' that catch sunshine by day and glow at night

The Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Gardens by the Bay is a huge park in the middle of Singapore. Its most famous part is the Supertree Grove: 18 enormous tree-shaped towers, between 25 and 50 metres tall, covered in real plants and powered by the sun.

Tell me more

Each Supertree is a steel frame wrapped in living plants - over 158,000 of them across the whole grove. Ferns, vines and flowers grow on the outside, turning the metal towers into giant vertical gardens.

The Supertrees don't just look incredible. They work like real trees, but with extra tricks. The tallest ones have solar panels on top that catch sunshine all day. At night, that stored sunshine powers the lights and music for a free show called Garden Rhapsody.

Some Supertrees also help cool the giant glass greenhouses next door. They act like chimneys - hot air rises up and out through the top - which keeps the indoor 'cloud forest' nice and cold inside. Cool air, clever engineering.

Singapore calls itself a 'Garden City', and Gardens by the Bay shows why. The whole point of the park is to prove that even a busy modern city can be packed with plants - on the ground, on roofs, and even climbing up the sides of buildings.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01What would change about your school if it had a Supertree in the playground?
  2. 02Why might it be a good idea to grow plants on the sides of buildings, not just on the ground?
  3. 03How could a giant tower act like a real tree? What does a tree do that this design tries to copy?
Try this

Classroom activity

Design your own Supertree on A3 paper. It must do three things: hold living plants, do something useful (collect rain? make shade?), and look amazing. Label each part. Compare designs as a class.