moshe safdie: marina bay sands opens

singapore’s marina bay sands (MBS) designed by architect moshe safdie opened its doors to the public, at a feng shui approved time of 15:18pm on april 27th, 2010.

marina bay sands photos: marina bay, asiaone, reuters, AFP, ST

this first phase of MBS includes 963 hotel rooms, parts of a shopping mall and convention centre along with the resort’s casino, restaurant and bars. the complex’s official opening is set for june 23rd, when 2,560 more guest rooms will open along with additional commercial spaces.

view of the pedestrian walk way

distant view of the marina bay sands

a scaled replica on show for public viewing

architect moshe safdie with the scaled model of the marina bay sands

as part of the project, safdie has introduced an art path within the resort. over the course of six months and having looked at the work of about 30 aritsts, he has selected seven installations by five international artists including sol lewitt, antony gormley and zheng chongbin. the pieces selected are meant to play on environmental influences including light, water and wind, integrating art with architecture. the worth of the public art situated at MBS is around 40 – 50 million singaporean dollars.

‘drift’ by antony gormley image courtesy of moshe safdie architects

‘drift’ took UK-based artist antony gormley one and a half years from conceptualization to completion. he wanted to create a matrix that would not only occupy the space within MBS, but also activate it. the installation is a massive three dimensional stainless polyhedral matrix comprised of more than 16, 000 steel rods and more than 8, 320 steel nodes.

‘rising forest’, zheng chongbin image courtesy of moshe safdie architects

‘rising forest’ by zheng chongbin is a ceramic sculpture which is composed of 83 large-scale glazed stoneware ceramic vessels occupying approximately 4,000 square meters in MBS’s hotel atrium. each of the vessels weight approximately 1,200 kg and measure 3 meters tall. each vessel holds a tree, creating a ‘canopy’ across the interior and exterior areas of the atrium.