Dragon playground in front of Block 28 Toa Payoh Lorong 6

The Toa Payoh Dragon Playground is a playground located along Lorong 6 Toa Payoh in

Toa Payoh Toa Payoh (, ta, தோ பாயோ) is a planning area and matured residential town located in the northern part of the Central Region of Singapore. Toa Payoh planning area borders Bishan and Serangoon to the north, the Central Water Catc ...

, Singapore. The playground is a dragon playground, a type of playground that was initially popular in Toa Payoh and

Ang Mo Kio Ang Mo Kio is a planning area and residential town situated in the North-East of Singapore. Located approximately north of the Downtown Core district, Ang Mo Kio is the 3rd most populated planning area in the North-East Region and ranks 8th ...

, and is one of two remaining dragon playgrounds in Singapore.

History

The Toa Payoh Dragon Playground was constructed in 1979, in front of 28 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh. The playground was designed by former

Housing Development Board The Housing & Development Board (HDB) (; ms, Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan; ta, வீடமைப்பு வளர்ச்சிக் கழகம்) or often referred to as the Housing Board, is a statutory board under the M ...

(HDB) interior designer Khor Ean Ghee, as part of a series of animal-themed playgrounds built in HDB public housing estates around Singapore. Its design was based on an experimental dragon-shaped playground in

Toa Payoh Town Park Toa Payoh Town Park is located at the junction of Lorong 2 Toa Payoh and Lorong 6 Toa Payoh. Park size is 4.8 hectares. History The park, previously known as Toa Payoh Town Garden, was completed in 1973. Its main features are an observation tower ...

, with several modifications from its predecessor to make it easier to build. The playground stands on top of a sand pit, and consists of multicoloured steel rings along the dragon's body for children to climb through, with a slide inside its head. It is one of the oldest playgrounds in Singapore. Other similar playgrounds were demolished in the late 1990s owing to "safety concerns", but the Toa Payoh playground in particular remained untouched. The playground has since become a cultural icon of Singapore. The playground is included in the Toa Payoh heritage trail, along with fifteen other locations in Toa Payoh, such as the

, the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery, and the United Five Temples of Toa Payoh. In 2014, it was announced that while the buildings surrounding the playground, blocks 28, 30, 32 and 33 along Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, would be demolished, the playground would remain. An event was held at the playground to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Singaporean independence in 2015. In 2017, the Housing Development Board announced plans to build several facilities around the playground, such as a newer playground and a fitness corner.

References

{{Singapore-struct-stub 1979 establishments in Singapore