How It's Built: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Standing beautifully over the Singapore skyline is the Marina Bay Sands, a stunning resort and the most expensive casino property in the world. Beautifully designed and a demonstration of engineering ingenuity, the all-in-one resort is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and is structurally beautiful. Let's take a quick look at how this project came to exist.
Where Is The Marina Bay Sands Resort?
The Marina Bay Sands Resort is located in Singapore, directly on Marina Bay. The hotel and resort were designed to fit into the long-term infrastructure plan of building entertainment and complex developments around what is referred to as the Marina Bay water basin.
According to these plans, the buildings in this area are supposed to provide great views of Marina Bay while not blocking views either. That's why the resort is placed where it is: far enough away from the water to protect views but also provides great views of the Singapore Strait and beyond.
What Is The Marina Bay Sands Resort?
Providing an almost all-inclusive entertainment experience, the Marina Bay Sands Resort is a hotel, casino, and theatre amenity. It also houses several restaurants, gardens, spas, and event centers, and is even home to the ArtScience Museum. The building has three different towers that have over 2,600 hotel rooms in total. The entire Marina Bay Sands complex is about 57 stories tall which is the equivalent of 198 meters or 650 feet. Meanwhile, the length of the building at the top is over 300 meters long which is taller than the Eiffel tower. There is an infinity pool at the top of this tower as well!
When Was Marina Bay Sands Built?
Construction on the project was started in 2006. Originally planned to be opened in 2009, the project faced a few delays due to the economic recession, labor shortages, and material pricing. Because of these delays, there were many "soft opening" days throughout 2010 and 2011. For example, the casino was first opened in April of 2010, and the resort and SkyPark were opened in June of the same year, but the final grand opening with the restaurants and entertainment spaces was in February of 2011. The building cost just over $5.7 billion dollars to make.
Who Designed The Marina Bay Sands?
The Marina Bay Sands was designed by the architect Moshe Safdie. Trying to overcome the unoriginal designs of a classic highrise building, his concept was to build three separate towers that were bridged together at the top by what is now commonly referred to as the SkyPark.
How The Marina Bay Sands Was Built
At first glance, the Marina Bay Sands may look like it might have been a pretty simple project to complete but it's often the simple-looking pieces that take the most complexity. While it may look like they just built three highrises and put a boat-shaped structure on top, there are many factors that play into just how complex this project was to finish.
For example, while the top SkyPark is supported by the three columns underneath, each of the three columns is wide at the bottom but narrows as they get to the top. Within each individual tower are three legs - two of which are asymmetric and then have a third leaning and curved leg against them. While it looks beautiful now, this design style created numerous challenges during its construction process. This included building several well-crafted but temporary support structures that held each leg in place and that required real-time monitoring so that the legs would not fall unexpectedly.
Because of the sloping and curved legs in the design, the structural engineers on the project had to devise a new strut-and-tension-cable system that would support the walls during the construction. However, despite these systems being used, the struts were only temporary and removed once trusses linking the legs together were installed. The cables, however, were left in the towers but were concealed behind concrete walls.
The SkyPark at the top of the building is probably the biggest architectural marvel of the entire building. Standing at a height of almost 200 meters off the ground, this piece of the building connects the three individual towers and is 340 meters long. It is the longest observation deck cantilever in the world.
Because of all the changes that the building had to go through during the construction timeline, there were many structural changes to the cantilever as it went through constant modifications. For example, the taper of many of the supporting pieces was reduced because of the amount of foot traffic the SkyPark would generate. By doing this, the response to vibrations would be improved.
Lastly, the hull of the building was mostly built off-site in 14 separate segments. Each was then shipped to the site and had to be lifted or ariled into place and assembled at the top of the tower. Because of the sheer weight and size of each piece, it took almost 16 hours to lift each piece from the bottom to the top of the building.
If you're interested, here's a video of some of the construction process:
Visiting The Marina Bay Sands
Before you decide exactly what you want to do at Marina Bay, it might be worthwhile taking a look at their interactive tour and checking out what they have for families, friends, and business visits. With nightlife and bars, the ArtScience Museum, the infinity pool at the top of SkyPark, and a wide variety of other entertainment options like movies, theatre, and shopping, there is certainly something for everyone. However, it probably will be quite an expensive trip, especially if you'd be traveling from out of the country. Plan your visit and discover everything you can do in both Singapore and the Marina Bay Sands.
