Rewilding Sembawang was our entry for URA’s Sembawang Shipyard District competition. The proposal extends the land–water edge and introduces a central “Garden Dock” as a key urban feature, reconnecting the district with its riparian heritage.

Sembawang’s history is deeply entwined with water. Once shaped by the Sembawang and Seletar rivers flowing into the Johor Strait, the area was a riparian landscape of plantations, farms and coastal settlements of the Orang Seletar. Over time, and particularly following the establishment of the naval base, this natural terrain was transformed into an increasingly engineered and urbanised hardscape. Our project reimagines Sembawang through a process of re-wilding, reconnecting its communities with the site’s riparian heritage.

At the landscape scale, two major moves are proposed. First, the interface between land and sea is significantly extended—almost 20 km of connected corridors and coastline—and thickened into a productive aquatic-terrestrial zone that supports diverse uses and ecologies. Second, a 1.6 km Garden Dock is introduced across the site, providing residents with direct access to the sea while extending this shared resource to the wider region.

Conserved heritage buildings anchor four distinct precincts—the Green Industry Park, Shipyard Commons, Coastal Town and Barracks—strengthening local identity. Green spaces, integrated water-recycling systems and a compact mix of uses support a walkable, car-lite and environmentally resilient neighbourhood.