Breathe new life into old stadium planks and win cash prizes

Singaporeans now have a unique opportunity to remember the former National Stadium in a special way. 

They can submit designs to create benches using actual seating planks from the stadium. 

Participants stand to win a cash prize of S$2,000 if their design gets selected. 

The design competition is simply named "bench". 

It is jointly presented by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Singapore Furniture Industries Council, and organised by creative agency FARM. 

Participants, who must be Singapore-based residents, can enter as individuals or in teams of up to five members. 

Entry forms can be downloaded via the competitionwebsite.

The closing date for submissions is 7 December 2012. 

Five winning designs from the public will be announced in January 2013. 

Completed benches will be unveiled at SingPlural, a design showcase in March next year. 

Following that, they will be placed at various parts of the city for a year. 

There is only one open category in the competition. 

Apart from the competition open to the public, 25 local designers and artists have been invited to create original designs for 25 benches. 

Details on the selected designers and artists will be announced at a later date. 

All 30 completed benches will be unveiled at SingaPlural, an annual design showcase to be held rom 8 to 15 March 2013. 

Following that, the benches will be placed at various parts of the city for a year. 

The former National Stadium was a national icon and had witnessed countless concerts, football matches and National Day parades. 

Opened in July 1973, the old National Stadium was closed on 30 June 2007 to make way for the Singapore Sports Hub which will be completed by April 2014.