SIT Enters Singapore Book of Records with Singapore's Largest Orchid Map

1 August 2012

The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) in collaboration with Asia Square at Marina Bay, will aim to enter the Singapore Book of Records with the creation of the largest orchid map of Singapore as part of Singapore’s National Day celebrations.

To celebrate Singapore’s 47th year of independence, 3,760 latex orchids of different colours and sizes will be pinned within a 7m by 5m outline of the map of Singapore. An image of the Vanda Miss Joaquim, Singapore’s national flower, will form the banner centrepiece. The completed banner will be displayed at the Asia Square atrium for public viewing for the entire month of August.

Around 200 SIT students will pin two-thirds of the orchids on the banner, while approximately 1,000 participants from key tenants in Asia Square will pin the remaining 1,000 orchids. The key tenants in Asia Square include anchor tenant Citi along with Google and Julius Baer among others. Asia Square is a twin tower building with a total floor area of 2 million square feet comprising commercial and retail space as well as the future 305-room Westin hotel.

Professor Tan Chin Tiong, President, SIT said, "We are pleased to present this very special gift from SIT and Asia Square to Singapore this National Day. Our students spent countless weeks working on this beautiful orchid map of Singapore using the Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’ as our inspiration and we are very proud to have our effort entered into the Singapore Book of Records."

"Asia Square Loving SG is our way of celebrating the nation's 47th birthday. It gives us great pride to partner with SIT to host this record-breaking event in the Cube at Asia Square, a new iconic landmark at Marina Bay," said Mark Rada, Project Director, Asia Square.

Mr Han Kwee Juan, Chief Executive Officer, Citibank Singapore Limited, said, "In our 110 years in Singapore, we seek to serve the community by being an efficient and responsible bank and by making a positive difference through our business, philanthropy and people. We are delighted to partner SIT on this meaningful initiative to celebrate the nation's 47th birthday while supporting SIT's preferred charities. Singapore is one of our key priority markets and we remain committed to contributing to Singapore's success story in the many years to come."

About Singapore Institute of Technology

Established in 2009, SIT is an initiative of the Ministry of Education offering undergraduate degree programmes primarily for polytechnic graduates. In partnership with various reputable overseas universities, SIT has brought to Singapore some of the world’s top industry-focused degree programmes targeted at growth sectors of the economy.

Through a unique tripartite collaboration with its overseas university partners and the five local polytechnics, SIT represents a new model that is set to become a key pillar of university education. SIT adopts a distributed campus model to allow greater synergy and efficiency. Through this model, SIT’s degree programmes will be housed within an SIT building in each of the polytechnics to cater to an annual intake of about 2000 full-time students by 2015.