Marina Bay Sands
in pixels

About Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands stands on reclaimed land on the eastern side of Marina Bay, facing the old business district across the water. It was built by Las Vegas Sands as an integrated resort, with a hotel, a casino, a convention centre, a shopping mall, theatres and a museum. The casino opened in April 2010, the hotel and SkyPark followed in June, and the resort was fully completed in February 2011.

The architect was Moshe Safdie, with Aedas, and the structure was engineered by Arup. The hotel is three towers of 55 storeys in a row. Each tower stands on two legs: a straight one and a curved eastern leg that leans against it and joins it around the 23rd storey, leaving a tall atrium between them. Building the leaning legs was one of the hardest engineering challenges of the project.

On top of the three towers sits the SkyPark, a long platform shaped like a ship. It is about 340 metres long and overhangs the north tower by 66.5 metres, so its tip hangs out in the air beyond the last tower. It carries gardens, restaurants, an observation deck and the famous infinity pool, about 150 metres long, whose edge seems to drop straight off into the skyline.

In front of the resort, on the water, is the ArtScience Museum, a white lotus-like building with ten "fingers" opened in February 2011. Across the bay the Merlion, the half-lion, half-fish statue unveiled in 1972, spouts water into the bay, and behind the hotel lie Gardens by the Bay, opened in 2012, with its Supertrees and two glass conservatories. Every evening the Spectra light and water show plays on the promenade.

The diorama

The diorama shows the three towers with their straight western legs facing the bay and their curved eastern legs leaning in towards them, joined a little below halfway up, with a lit atrium in between. Floor bands and windows run up every face, and on top sits the SkyPark with its pointed cantilever, the infinity pool along the bay edge, palms, pavilions and a few tiny walkers. In front are the glass-roofed Shoppes, the event plaza steps and the bay cut open in section.

On the water stand the ArtScience Museum with its ten white fingers on a round platform, and across the bay the Merlion on its pier, spouting a steady arc of water. Behind the hotel are Gardens by the Bay: a grove of purple Supertrees linked by a skyway, the two glass domes of the conservatories, rain trees, palms and a lake. Two red bumboats cross the bay. At night the windows light up, the pool glows, the Supertrees cycle through colours, water jets dance on the promenade and laser beams sweep out from the SkyPark.

Things to spot

• The pointed SkyPark cantilever past the north tower
• The infinity pool along the bay edge of the SkyPark
• The Merlion spouting water into the bay
• People crossing the skyway between the Supertrees
• Bumboats with red roofs crossing the bay
• Lasers and water jets of the night show

What we simplified

• The Merlion, the ArtScience Museum and Gardens by the Bay are pulled in much closer to the hotel than they really are, and the Supertrees are drawn taller and fewer.
• The Shoppes, the convention centre and the hotel lobby are reduced to a low strip of buildings, and the towers show bands of two floors at a time instead of every storey.

Isometric maps of Singapore

Singapore also has 2 isometric pixel-art maps made by the community: the whole city drawn tile by tile in the same SimCity-like style. See the maps of Singapore →