Marina Bay Sands is one of the world’s most recognisable skyscrapers located in the heart of Singapore’s Marina Bay downtown district.
The building design is inspired by a house of cards, two playing cards leaning against each other to form a triangle and a flat of one’s hand placed, which exerts a little pressure, leading to the card bending inwards – just enough to produce some irregular and highly expressive curves.
There were tremendous structural and construction challenges, one being the very exposed hull shaped ‘belly’, where extensive wind testing and modelling was required. Originally, the hull-shaped belly of the park was designed as a pure toroid; it was then further shaped to streamline the cross-sections of the building. Using a computer program, it was regularised and panelised, triangulating the facade into simple shapes.
Over 9,000 panels (55,000sqm) of ALPOLIC/fr were selected for the ‘belly’, which encloses the mega trusses that bridge the three towers at the 55th storey. ALPOLIC/fr uses Lumiflon FEVE coating technology, which guarantees exceptional durability, aesthetics and performance, essential for such an iconic building.
Project details
Project: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Architect: Safdie Architects
Builder: Lendlease
Contractor: Yuand
Engineer: Arup
Facade Consultant: Acor
Completed: 2011
Product: Mitsubishi ALPOLIC/fr aluminium composite panels in White, Silver Metallic and Custom Metallic
