I decided to do some thing cultural this weekend and booked Jill and I tickets to the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. The new museum literally opened on Saturday with three blockbuster exhibitions: Genghis Khan: The Exhibition, Traveling The Silk Road: Ancient Pathway To The Modern World and Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures And Monsoon Winds. The architecture of the museum from the outside is a sight to behold. Designed by Israeli-born architect, Moshe Safdie (who we were lucky enough to meet!) it is in the form of a blossoming lotus flower. Ten fingers. The galleries are located inside these fingers. Safdie says that the design is both expressive and disciplined. "Using geometry to create such an iconic structure demonstrates how the union of art and science can lead to the creation of a thing of beauty." It took the award-winning architect four months to design the museum, the three hotel towers and the shopping mall and convention center at Marina Bay Sands which is now complete. The museum took two years to complete. Safdie said when he showed Arup, the engineering firm behind Marina Bay Sands, "they tore their hair out, but rose to the occasion." It certainly is impressive.
The museum appears kind of upside-down and is surrounded by a reflecting pool, which will be full of lillies, so appears like it is floating on water. A massive 50,000 sq ft of gallery space spread over three floors. The fourth level are the ArtScience galleries, which house the permanent exhibitions, but unfortunately we weren't that impressed. The distinctive feature in the atrium is the "oculus" which channels rainwater from the roof down a 35 metre drop into a reflecting pool. The water is the recycled and used within the buildings toilets.
He said the design is both expressive and disciplined, which is what art and science are: Ten petals of varying heights and width are arranged in a radial axis and spaced evenly at 36 degrees. "Using geometry to create such an iconic structure demonstrates how the union of art and science can lead to the creation of a thing of beauty," he said.
Unfortunately, as I said earlier, Jill and I weren't overly impressed. The inside isn't as breathtaking as the outside. However, a really nice start to the weekend. It made a change to spending the morning suffering from a major hangover. Although that could have been the case had I stayed out on Friday night and continued drinking B52s with Mark for his birthday!
He said the design is both expressive and disciplined, which is what art and science are: Ten petals of varying heights and width are arranged in a radial axis and spaced evenly at 36 degrees. "Using geometry to create such an iconic structure demonstrates how the union of art and science can lead to the creation of a thing of beauty," he said.
Unfortunately, as I said earlier, Jill and I weren't overly impressed. The inside isn't as breathtaking as the outside. However, a really nice start to the weekend. It made a change to spending the morning suffering from a major hangover. Although that could have been the case had I stayed out on Friday night and continued drinking B52s with Mark for his birthday!
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