VivoCity
VivoCity (Chinese: 怡丰城) is the largest shopping mall in Singapore. Located in the HarbourFront precinct, it was designed by the Japanese architect Toyo Ito. Its name is derived from the word vivacity. According to Mapletree chairman Edmund Cheng, VivoCity “evokes a lifestyle experience that is modern, stimulating and accessible to everyone, a place bubbling with energy and flowing with vitality”.
VivoCity’s iconic architecture sets it apart from the traditional box format of many existing (and upcoming) retail developments in the region as it includes event spaces, al fresco dining by the 300 m long Promenade and a large roof-top amphitheatre. The Sky Park has been a popular place for all walks of life since its opening. The Play Court and the open spaces in the mall are popular with families and children. The Promenade and the entrance area with the water features a popular place for children to play in. The wading pool on the third floor is where many children play at besides the Play Court downstairs. The Sky Park has an Amphitheatre and was where the grand opening was held. It is also a place popular to viewSentosa. Some hold picnics in the mall’s outdoor space as well. VivoCity’s design allows it to accommodate over 300 tenants, including many new-to-market brands and retail concepts.
The mall has Singapore’s largest cinema multiplex with 15 screens and 2,172 seats by the cinematic company Golden Village, along with one of the largest cinema screens in Asia. Companies such as Toys “R” Us and Dairy Farm have their flagship outlets in VivoCity. Dairy Farm, which owns Cold Storage, Shop N Save, Giant Hypermarket, 7-Eleven and Guardian Health & Beauty takes up 3,700 square metres (1 acre) of space on Basement 2 and about 7,400 square metres on Level 1. The new hypermart, called VivoMart, is connected by its own travelator and sells gourmetfood from all over the world, including the United States, Germany, Japan and Australia. The hypermarket Giant is on both basement two and level one while Cold Storage and Guardian pharmacy are on level one.
There are two giant food courts – a 2,200 square metre Kopitiam Group facility in Basement 2 and another spread over 2,500 square metres run by the BreadTalk Group, which is a Food Republic food court in similar concept at its sister food court at Wisma Atria.
As one of the venues of the inaugural Singapore Biennale in 2006, several commissioned art pieces from established designers around the world were unveiled in VivoCity. It is the only venue of the Singapore Biennale where the exhibits are permanent. An international student design contest was recently held to find a design for incorporation into the architecture of VivoCity; it received 365 submissions.
Other features include a True Fitness gym, spas, restaurants and dance clubs. A Tangs store is located in the building on the first and second floor, which it is the only branch other than its flagship Orchard Road store. The store will sell merchandise that cannot be found at its Orchard Road store, and the management has said the aisles are wider. The first Gap store in Southeast Asia opened at the mall and a number of new faces to the Singapore retail market will set up shops at the mall.
There is a car park with a total of 2,179 lots and a loading and unloading bay. The car parks are located in basements 1 and 2 as well as from levels 2 to 7. Also, there is a coach and tour buses bay in the mall.
Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), it is the world’s most expensivebuilding, at US$ 4.7 billion, including the cost of the prime land.
Marina Bay Sands is situated on 15.5 hectares of land with the gross floor area of 581,000 square metres. The iconic design has transformed Singapore’s skyline and tourism landscape since it opened on 27 April 2010. The property has a hotel, convention and exhibition facilities, theatres, entertainment venues, retailers and restaurants.
The Marina Bay Sands hotel has three 55-story towers with 2,561 luxury rooms and suites, and is capped by the Sands SkyPark, which offers 360-degree views of Singapore’s skyline. The SkyPark is home to restaurants, gardens, a 150-metre vanishing edge pool, manufactured by Natare Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the world’s largest public cantilever housing an observation deck. This architectural marvel stands at a height of 200 metres and boasts 12,400 square metres of space. Dining options at the Skypark include restaurant Sky on 57 (by local celebrity chef Justin Quek), restaurant and nightclub KU DÉ TA, and executive club lounge The Club at Marina Bay Sands.
To help the Skypark withstand the natural motion of the towers caused by wind, engineers designed and constructed four movement joints beneath the main pools, each possessing a unique range of motion. The total range of motion is 500 millimetres (19.68 inches). In addition to wind, the hotel towers are also subject to settlement in the earth over time, hence custom jack legs were built and installed to allow for future adjustment at more than 500 points beneath the pool system. This jacking system is important primarily to ensure the infinity edge of the pool continues to function properly.[citation needed]
Connected to the hotel towers are the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands Casino and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
The Sands Expo and Convention Centre has more than 120,000 square metres or 1.3 million square feet of meeting space, making it one of the largest and most flexible locations in Asia. It is also the biggest MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions) facility in Singapore, and the ballroom is the largest in Southeast Asia, capable of hosting up to 11,000 delegates. The Sands Expo and Convention Centre has five floors of exhibition and convention space, with up to 2,000 exhibition booths and 250 meeting rooms. It has hosted events ranging from banquets, theater-style conventions, to exhibitions and roadshows.
Located near the Sands Expo and Convention Centre is the Marina Bay Sands Casino. Spanning 15,000 square metres over four levels of gaming, the casino features over 600 gaming tables and 1,500 slot machines along with two noodle bars, The Nest and Tong Dim, and local Chinese eatery, Fatt Choi Express.
Another attraction found at Marina Bay Sands is The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. With close to 800,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is Singapore’s first large-scale luxury shopping mall in the Central Business District with boutiques such as Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Cartier and Prada. Other luxury stores include Salon by Surrender, Gucci, Hermès, Emporio Armani, Chopard, REDValentino, Dior, Dunhill, Vertu, Miu Miu, Saint Laurent Paris, Salvatore Ferragamo, Montblanc, Blancpain, and an Hermès Watch Boutique. Also housed within the Shoppes are the five of the six Celebrity Chef Restaurants – Cut (by Wolfgang Puck), Waku Ghin (by Tetsuya Wakuda), Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza (by Mario Batali), Guy Savoy (by Guy Savoy), and DB Bistro Moderne (by Daniel Boulud).
Other attractions within The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands include a canal which runs through the length of the Shoppes, in the same style as the Venetian in Las Vegas, two Crystal Pavilions, one housing renowned nightclubs – Avalon and Pangaea and the other the world’s largest Louis Vuitton boutique. An indoor skating rink (synthetic ice) measuring 6,500 square feet (600 m2) as well as the MasterCard Theatres, compromising of the Sands Theatre and Grand Theatre which seat 1,680 people and 2,155 people respectively can also be found at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
The MasterCard Theatres has played host to many international acts and plays since its opening, with Broadway smash musicals like The Lion King, Wicked, Annie, The Phantom of the Opera,Starlight Express and My Fair Lady. Other acts such as Cirque Éloize and A. R. Rahman’s Jai Ho, located in the latter during their world tours. Additionally, Marina Bay Sands has played host toFide Fashion Weeks for 3 consecutive years since its inception in 2011.
Visitors to the Event Plaza at The Shoppes can enjoy the nightly Wonder Full show, a 13-minute light and water show featuring lasers, lights, water movements and graphics, set against the backdrop of Marina Bay Sands.
Marina Bay Sands is also home to the ArtScience Museum, With a form reminiscent of the lotus, the ArtScience Museum has been called “The Welcoming Hand of Singapore”. It features an adjustable roof waterfall which uses rainwater collected when the roof is sealed in the day.
The resort also features an Art Path designed by Moshe Safdie, incorporating 11 installations by five artists including Zheng Chongbin, Antony Gormley, and Sol LeWitt. The 11 art installations were commissioned to integrate seamlessly with Moshe Safdie’s iconic architecture. These art installations form the largest art commissions ever completed as part of an integrated architectural process.
Orchard Road
Orchard Road is a 2.2 kilometre-long boulevard that is the retail and entertainment hub of Singapore. It is a hugetourist attraction, in addition to being the most popular shopping enclave in the city-state. Often, the surrounding area is known simply as Orchard, partly because the MRT station that serves the vicinity is named Orchard MRT.
The Orchard Planning Area is one of 55 urban planning areas as specified by the Urban Redevelopment Authorityand is a commercial district. It is part of the Central Region and Singapore’s central business district, the Central Area.
Orchard Road underwent a $40 million revamp in 2009, with the addition of new street lamps, planter boxes, urban green rooms, street tiling and flower totem poles, which have since been removed.
The first shop of note on Orchard Road was Tangs founded in 1934 and established on Orchard Road in the 1950s.
Orchard Road is flanked by pedestrian malls. Orchard Road contains numerous upmarket restaurants, coffee chains, cafés, nightclubs and hotels. It is the site of the official residence and office of the President of Singapore, the Istana.
Tanglin Mall is located at the junction of Tanglin Road and Grange Road. Its customer base is made up of expatriates, yuppies and professionals. Anchor tenants include Tanglin Market Place, a gourmet supermarket and bakery, and Tasty Food Court where up to 15 varieties of local cuisine can be found.
Orchard Central distinguishes itself from other malls on Orchard Road with architectural and design forms. Fronted by an exterior featuring local artist Matthew Ngui’s digital art membrane, the mall offers cluster concept shopping by grouping complementary offerings for shoppers. The mall houses the world’s tallest indoor Via Ferrata climbing wall, a large collection of public art installations by international artists and a 24/7-operational Roof Garden and Discovery Walk. The Roof Garden offers dining options on an open-air veranda.
313@somerset is directly linked to the Somerset MRT station and features a concentration of mid-range retail and dining outlets. Retail options are made of a mix of local and global fashion labels including Zara, Uniqlo, New Look, Esprit and a Forever 21 flagship store that spans four floors.
Visitors in Singapore (from 27 May to 24 July 2011) qualified for Great Singapore Sale tourist privileges and discounts at malls along Orchard Road. During this period, a number of malls extend their opening hours till 11pm.
American fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch opened a flagship store on Orchard Road on 15 December 2011. The store was marked by controversy over an ad during its construction phase.
Every first Saturday night of each month, a section of Orchard Road will be closed and the road will be used as a temporary pedestrian street between Scotts Paterson Junction and Bideford Junction between 6pm -11pm from October 2014 to May 2015. Known as Pedestrian Night on Orchard Road, this six-month pilot initiative aims to inject street vibrancy into the precinct by creating an integrated community space with activities such as street tennis and mass yoga.
Plaza Singapura
Plaza Singapura (Chinese: 狮城68, previously 狮城大厦) is a contemporary shopping mall located along Orchard Road,Singapore. The mall is managed by CapitaLand and owned by CapitaMall Trust. There are retail outlets over seven floors and two basements. The mall has a 752 lot seven storey carpark at the rear of the building, and a two basement goods bay beneath it. Anchor tenants include Golden Village cinemas, John Little, Marks & Spencer, Best Denki, Spotlight and Yamaha. The mall is popular with families, teenagers and young adults.
It was then described by students that the building appears “lumpy” in the context and the glass fibre decorated mural at the front and two sides is quite insensitive, like some great Nonya belt. It used to house two sculptures in the building which was designed by the late renowned sculptor Ng Eng Teng, which has now been removed.
The mall did not go under any major renovations until 1997 during the Asian Financial Crisis, when it went under major retrofitting with a totally new look and the mall totally changed when it reopened in 1998. As Yaohan went bankrupt in 1997, it saw the departure of the main store. The mall’s tenants changed drastically with Liberty Market took over Yaohan in Basement 2.
This was to change when between 2002 and 2003, when the mall once again when under a revamp with a new tenant mix. The mall had renovations in the basements, and a direct link to Dhoby Ghaut MRT station was constructed. Travelators were also installed in the building for the convenience of shoppers.
In 2008, further changes were made to Plaza Singapura. Level 7 of the mall was given a face lift and tenants selling toys, gifts and hobby related items such as swords and cosplay costumes were introduced.
In 2012, it underwent major renovation work. The first three levels of Atrium@Orchard, which housed several offices, were converted to shop spaces.
On 11 March 2013, Dairy Farm Group took over the 81,000 sq ft (7,500 m2) Carrefour which on two floors.
Chinatown
Singapore’s Chinatown is an ethnic neighbourhood featuring distinctly Chinese cultural elements and a historically concentrated ethnic Chinese population. Chinatown is located within the larger district of Outram.
As the largest ethnic group in Singapore is Chinese, Chinatown is considerably less of an enclave than it once was. (Note: The name Chinatown is given by the British and today usually used by non-Chinese Singaporeans, whereas Chinese Singaporeans usually use the term Niu Che Shui as the term Chinatown usually refers to enclaves of Chinese people in regions where Chinese people are the minority ethnic group.) However, the district does retain significant historical and cultural significance. Large sections of it have been declared national heritage sites officially designated for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The street architecture of Chinatown’s buildings, the shophouses especially, combine different elements of baroque architecture and Victorian architecture and do not have a single classification. Many of them were built in the style of painted ladies, and have been restored in that fashion. These styles result in a variety of different colours of which pastel is most dominant. Trengganu Street, Pagoda Street and Temple Street are such examples of this architecture, as well as development in Upper Cross Street and the houses in Club Street. Boat Quay was once a slave market along the Singapore River, Boat Quay has the most mixed-style shophouses on the island.
In 1843, when land titles were issued, the terraces in Pagoda Street (now with additions, mostly three-story) were born. They were originally back to back, an arrangement which made night soil collection difficult, but lanes were developed in between following the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) backlane orders of 1935.
The architectural character of many of the terraces in Chinatown is much more Italianate in style than those of, for instanceEmerald Hill or Petain Road. Windows often appear as mere slits with narrow timber jalousies (often with adjustable slats).Fanlights over the windows are usually quite decorative and the pilasters and balconies and even the plasterwork and colours seem to be Mediterranean in flavour. The style was probably introduced by those early Chinese immigrants (both China-born and Straits-born) who had knowledge of the Portuguese architecture ofMacau, Malacca and Goa. The Chettiars and Tamils from Southern India would also have been familiar with the European architecture there, although it is difficult to imagine how these people would have had a particularly strong influence on building in Chinatown.
Clarke Quay
Clarke Quay is a historical riverside quay in Singapore, located within the Singapore River Planning Area. The quay is situated upstream from the mouth of the Singapore River and Boat Quay.
At present, five blocks of restored warehouses house various restaurants and nightclubs. There are also moored Chinesejunks (tongkangs) that have been refurbished into floating pubs and restaurants. The Cannery is one of the anchor tenants of the place. There are over 5 different concepts in one block. Another anchor tenant, The Arena, will be home to Singapore’s First Permanent Illusion Show (starting August 2008) starring J C Sum and ‘Magic Babe’ Ning.[1] The G-MAXreverse bungee, the first in Singapore, is located at the entrance which opened in November 2003. Notable restaurants andnightclubs include Hooters and Indochine. River cruises and river taxis on the Singapore River can be accessed from Clarke Quay. One of its most popular attractions is its exciting host of CQ’s signature events happening once every quarter. Clark Quay has become known as a hub of Singaporean nightclubs including Zirca, and up until 2008, the Ministry of Sound.
Clarke Quay MRT Station is located within the vicinity. A new SOHO concept development cum shopping centre called The Central, above the MRT station, was completed in 2007.
In July 2012, Hong Kong lifestyle retail store G.O.D. opened a 6,000 square foot flagship store in the Quay.
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