Difference the project has made
The ArtScience museum is a major part of the new developments breathing life into Singapore's Marina Bay and significantly boosting the state’s tourism trade.
How the work was done
This spectacular building is part of the Marina Bay Sands complex, built on land engineers have reclaimed from the sea and next to the famous Bay Gardens.
The construction has a circular core around which radiate 10 ‘fingers’ housing different galleries. Each ‘finger’ gallery space has a large window at the end, allowing a lot of natural light to illuminate the curved spaces within. The tallest finger is 60 metres above ground. The building’s design is also often compared to a lotus flower.
The ‘upside-down’ building appears to ‘float’ above a strong steel lattice structure at its core and 10 tall steel columns supporting the outer petals or fingers.
The architect’s design was translated into a buildable structure by using a wireframe model and 3D modelling software. The drawings produced using the modelling software were then used to make the unusual steel structure.
Each structural steel had different measurements – if any of the 5,000 pieces were produced in the wrong size, then this incredibly complex 3D jigsaw wouldn’t have fitted together.
Trying to make a building stand upside down was a challenge, explains Peter Bowtell, Buildings Leader for Arup in Australasia.
“With one side of the ‘lotus flower’ bigger than the other, the structure naturally wants to fall to one side. To get around this we had to design a rational and simple way of holding these galleries in the air. The final solution involved balancing the structure in space and dealing with very complex geometry.”