The Surviving Dragon

The dragon playground at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, likely built in 1978. (Photo: Esther Leong)

At Ang Mo Kio, schoolchildren scampered around in the sandy pit and played under a dragon head created out of terrazzo and red, green, pink and brownish-orange square glass tiles. A trio of boys tramped along the length of a spine of rusty and faded canary yellow coiling steel rails, back and forth, shouting like carnival barkers. “Come on up daddy! It’s so fun.”

That was then, a then that wasn't all that long ago.

Now, the sand-based playground has been refurbished with soft rubber matting.

The dragon playground sandwiched between Block 570 and 571 along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 is a Singapore icon and was completed around 1978. It takes up the size of a basketball court and sits in the middle of a cluster of Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks in a lively housing estate.

Twisting, winding coils of the dragon dominate the centre of the playground. Little children ran up and down the steps, peered through the eye of the dragon and chased each other around. When the kindergarten nearby releases their students every evening, about a dozen of children race directly to their favorite spots of the dragon playground instead of the adjacent modern playground.

Khor Ean Ghee, 80, a former interior designer with the HDB from 1969 to 1984, designed the beloved landmark that has brought joy to countless children of yesteryears.

He turned the fierce mythical animal in Chinese legends into a playful sculpture where children can run along its spine and slide down its head on the slippery mosaic-covered slides.

Khor grew up in Penang and has a diploma in interior design from the University of North London and a fine arts degree from the National Taiwan Normal University.

He also designed other familiar landmarks such as the pelican playground that once stood along Dover Road.

While most Singaporeans’ memory of the dragon playground resembles the one along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, Khor revealed that the design is an updated version of the initial design. The first version had a longer spine, a smaller metal head and a circular monkey bar instead of a slide. One was built in Toa Payoh Town Garden in 1975 and was eventually demolished to make way for a temporary bus terminal.

“The places we are familiar with are slowly vanishing one by one. I would have loved it if the sand were retained so that my children would be able to experience the exact same joy I did years ago,” said Lionel Lim, a 37-year-old father.

A similar playground can be found along Lorong 6 Toa Payoh and there are also “Baby Dragons”, 10 by 10 metres versions modified from the original design, in Braddell and Macpherson.

Despite the fact that the iconic dragon-shaped structure is no longer atop a sand pit, it holds numerous fond memories for Singaporeans and continues to capture the imagination of children.

Nowadays, plastic modular playgrounds have replaced most of the locally designed playgrounds with elements of local heritage such as bumboats, trishaws and kelongs (a form of offshore platform).

The mosaic-covered playgrounds were not as safe as the current playgrounds as they were built with no guard rails at the top of the platforms. The interminable metal spine of the dragon has aged with time and is showing the wearing effects of rain, corrosion and the pounding of little feet over decades. When the metal sits out in the sun, it gets hot and heats up like a frying pan.

“Back then we wanted an identity, so the playgrounds were locally designed such that you can see it is a Singapore playground,” Khor said. “Nowadays, it can’t be helped because Singapore is so small, it won’t be cheap to design it ourselves. The modern playgrounds are also of better quality because the companies that produce them keep improving on them.”

Since 1993, HDB has stopped designing its own playgrounds and replaced old playgrounds like the dragon playground with equipment imported from overseas. However, the dragon playground continues to be fondly remembered by Singaporeans.

In March 2010, the dragon playground was the only old playground design featured on a series of ‘Playgrounds’ stamps.

Private tutor Gene Tan, a Lego enthusiast who built a miniature model of the dragon playground using Lego bricks, started a business selling Lego recreations of Singaporean landmarks on his Facebook page, My Little World.

“These playgrounds were our gathering points in the evening for the kids in the neighbourhood. The place where we shared interest, know new friends and play together. Almost like Facebook or Instagram, except it’s a physical place,” said the 38-year-old.

Antoinette Wong and her partner, Stanley Tan, have been trying to preserve and bring attention to these forgotten playgrounds. Since 2010, they started creating pins, necklaces and tote bags based on playground designs like the dragon playground and have been selling them at The Little Dröm Store, a shop they run that sells vintage novelties.

Wong, 32, said: “We wanted to create wearable art to preserve these playgrounds that are diminishing. These playgrounds represent the resilience that Singapore has shown. We’ve gone through so much changes, but the playground is still standing tall.”

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