Marina Bay Sands Chosen as Featured Building
15 March 2011 - Featured Building
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Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest point of the building, irrespective of material or function of the highest element (i.e., including antennae, flagpoles, signage and other functional-technical equipment).
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the highest occupied floor within the building.
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CTBUH floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CTBUH floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).
The number of floors below ground should include all major floors located below the ground floor level.
The current legal building name.
Other names the building has commonly been known as, including former names, common informal names, local names, etc.
A complex is a group of buildings which are designed and built as pieces of a greater development.
CTBUH collects data on two major types of tall structures: 'Buildings' and 'Telecommunications / Observation Towers.' A 'Building' is a structure where at least 50% of the height is occupied by usable floor area. A 'Telecommunications / Observation Tower' is a structure where less than 50% of the structure's height is occupied by usable floor area. Only 'Buildings' are eligible for the CTBUH 'Tallest Buildings' lists.
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of Country, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.
The CTBUH follows the United Nations's definition of City, and thus uses the lists and codes established by that organization.
A single-function tall building is defined as one where 85% or more of its usable floor area is dedicated to a single usage. Thus a building with 90% office floor area would be said to be an "office" building, irrespective of other minor functions it may also contain.
A mixed-use tall building contains two or more functions (or uses), where each of the functions occupy a significant proportion of the tower's total space. Support areas such as car parks and mechanical plant space do not constitute mixed-use functions. Functions are denoted on CTBUH "Tallest Building" lists in descending order, e.g., "hotel/office" indicates hotel function above office function.
Steel
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from steel. Note that a building of steel construction with a floor system of concrete planks or concrete slab on top of steel beams is still considered a “steel” structure as the concrete elements are not acting as the primary structure.
Reinforced Concrete
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning systems are constructed from concrete which has been cast in place and utilizes steel reinforcement bars.
Precast Concrete
Both the main vertical/lateral structural elements and the floor spanning system are constructed from steel reinforced concrete which has been precast as individual components and assembled together on-site.
Mixed-Structure
Utilizes distinct systems (e.g. steel, concrete, timber), one on top of the other. For example, a steel/concrete indicates a steel structural system located on top of a concrete structural system, with the opposite true of concrete/steel.
Composite
A combination of materials (e.g. steel, concrete, timber) are used together in the main structural elements. Examples include buildings which utilize: steel columns with a floor system of reinforced concrete beams; a steel frame system with a concrete core; concrete-encased steel columns; concrete-filled steel tubes; etc. Where known, the CTBUH database breaks out the materials used in a composite building’s core, columns, and floor spanning separately.
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment. This measurement is the most widely utilized and is employed to define the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) rankings of the "World's Tallest Buildings."
The number of floors above ground should include the ground floor level and be the number of main floors above ground, including any significant mezzanine floors and major mechanical plant floors. Mechanical mezzanines should not be included if they have a significantly smaller floor area than the major floors below. Similarly, mechanical penthouses or plant rooms protruding above the general roof area should not be counted. Note: CTBUH floor counts may differ from published accounts, as it is common in some regions of the world for certain floor levels not to be included (e.g., the level 4, 14, 24, etc. in Hong Kong).
The number of floors below ground should include all major floors located below the ground floor level.
Number of Elevators refers to the total number of elevator cars (not shafts) contained within a particular building (including public, private and freight elevators).
You must be a CTBUH Member to view this resource.
You must be a CTBUH Member to view this resource.
Proposed
Construction Start
Completed
Acoustics
Civil
Geotechnical
Quantity Surveyor
Stormwater Management
Cladding
Elevator
Paint/Coating
You must be a CTBUH Member to view this resource.
Acoustics
Artist
Civil
Geotechnical
Interiors
Landscape
Lighting
Quantity Surveyor
Roofing
Stormwater Management
Way Finding
Aluminium
Cladding
Concrete
Elevator
Flooring
Hardware
HVAC
Lighting
Paint/Coating
Plumbing
Sealants
Steel
15 March 2011 - Featured Building
12 August 2009 - Building Tour
31 October 2019 | Singapore
Moshe Safdie, Founder at Safdie Architects, speaks at the 2019 CTBUH International Congress in Chicago on 31 October 2019.
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30 January 2020
The combined brains of the CTBUH editorial and database staff boldly predict what might happen across the global skyscraper industry in 2020. Check out our...
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Marina Bay Sands is a high-density, mixed-use integrated resort that brings together a 2,560-room hotel, a SkyPark, convention center, shopping and dining, theaters, museum, and a casino across the water from Singapore’s central business district. The 929,000 sq m (10,000,000 sq ft) urban district anchors the Singapore waterfront, and creates a gateway to Singapore. The design approach for the complex was not as a building project, but as a microcosm of a city—rooted in Singapore’s culture, climate and contemporary life. The aim was to create an urban landscape capable of addressing the issue of megascale.
The project is designed as an urban structure that weaves together the components of a complex program into a dynamic urban crossroads and public meeting place. Inspired by great ancient cities that were ordered around a vital public thoroughfare, Marina Bay Sands is organized around two principal axes that traverse the district and give it a sense of orientation placing emphasis on the pedestrian street as the focus of civic life. Combining indoor and outdoor spaces and providing a platform for a wide array of activities, this vibrant, 21st-century cardo maximus, or grand arcade, also connects to the subway and other transportation. A series of layered gardens provide ample green space throughout the site, extending the tropical garden landscape from Marina City Park towards the Bayfront. The landscape network reinforces urban connections with the resort’s surroundings and every level of the district has green space that is accessible to the public.
The most innovative aspect of Marina Bay Sands, both conceptually and technically, is the 1 hectare (2.5 acre) SkyPark atop the hotel towers. Locating the park and hotel amenities at 200m (656ft) above the sea afforded the architect the ability to keep the majority of the project relatively low in height. The three towers anchor the district and are connected at the top by the SkyPark—an engineering marvel that is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall and large enough to park four-and-a-half A380 jumbo jets. The 65m (213ft) cantilever of the SkyPark past the third hotel tower forms one of the world’s largest public cantilevers.
The SkyPark accommodates a public observatory, gardens, a 151 meter-long (495 foot-long) swimming pool, restaurants, and jogging paths and offers sweeping panoramic views, a formidable resource in a dense city like Singapore. Shielded from the winds and lavishly planted with hundreds of trees, the SkyPark celebrates the notion of the Garden City that has been the underpinning of Singapore’s urban design strategy.
A post-tensioned box girder was designed to achieve this incredible cantilever. The maximum depth of the box girder is 10m (33ft) at the end support from the hotel tower and generally 3.5m (11ft) deep. The lifting of the SkyPark was one of the many challenges that the project faced that required an innovative approach to the construction methods in order to facilitate one of the highest strand jacking operations ever undertaken.
The hotel towers on which the SkyPark sits has an unusual and spectacular form that creates its distinct silhouette. Each tower is formed by two curved and splayed legs that lean into one another as they rise, ultimately becoming one at the upper levels. At the ground level, the space between each tower is enclosed to create a hotel lobby and atrium, at the upper levels the space is conceived as an “urban window” that allows for views through the project. Major steel trusses form a connection between the separate segments of the building’s legs to provide a frame to transfer sheer between the towers and tie the buildings together to resist lateral forces.
31 October 2019 | Singapore
Moshe Safdie, Founder at Safdie Architects, speaks at the 2019 CTBUH International Congress in Chicago on 31 October 2019.
30 October 2017 | Singapore
Quay Quarter Tower (QQT) will create a stunning new building on the Sydney skyline that sets new benchmarks in office tower design globally and creates...
26 October 2015 | Singapore
Moshe Safdie of Safdie Architects is interviewed by Chris Bentley during the 2015 CTBUH New York Conference at the Grand Hyatt New York. Moshe discusses...
10 October 2011 | Singapore
A construction CEO will share his vivid experience of overcoming challenges in the construction of Raffles City Complex and Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore....
30 January 2020
The combined brains of the CTBUH editorial and database staff boldly predict what might happen across the global skyscraper industry in 2020. Check out our...
08 August 2017
Recently, there has been a growing and overdue recognition in the architecture discipline that women are under-represented, not just in terms of leadership positions held,...
17 October 2016
This paper is intended to introduce the upcoming CTBUH technical guide titled “The Space Between,” which investigates the importance of publicly accessible spaces surrounding tall...
04 February 2016
A growing number of tall buildings recognized by the CTBUH, through its international awards programs and research, are noteworthy not so much because of their...
22 January 2011
Marina Bay Sands is a high-density and mixed-use integrated resort complex which was conceived as a city microcosm rooted in Singapore’s culture, climate, and contemporary...
15 March 2011
The 929,000-square meter Marina Bay Sands is conceived as not just a mere building project, but as a city microcosm rooted in Singapore’s culture, climate, and contemporary life.
14 August 2009
Executive Director Antony Wood shares his recent experiences of a new and exciting Singapore which has, in a quiet, unpretentious way, been implementing social-urban policies.
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