Marina Bay Sands Resort

Posted by : Austin G Thursday, March 27, 2014

Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), it is the world's most expensive building, at $5.7 billion US dollars, including the cost of the prime land. Marina Bay Sands is situated on 15.5 hectares of land (38.3 Acres!!!) with the gross floor area of 581,000 square meters.

Getting the Location:

Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa (which incorporates Universal Studios Theme Park) were the two winning proposals for Singapore’s first integrated resort. The two resorts were trying to meet Singapore’s economic and tourism objectives, and have 30-year casino licenses.

With only one proposal getting the spot, they were assessed based on four criteria:

tourism appeal and contribution
architectural concept and design
development investment
strength of the consortium and partners

On May 27, 2006, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) was declared as the winner to develop the Marina Bay site in the prime new business district of Marina South. Construction of the property commenced in early 2007 and was expected to be completed by 2009.

Design:

Moshe Safdie was approached to lead the design on this massive project, ultimately taking inspiration from the form of card decks for the unique appearance of the three hotel towers. Other key structures of the property include the ArtScience Museum, The Shoppes, Expo and Convention center and the casino

In the Design Evaluation portion, a panel of local and international architects commended Safdie’s design as superior to other bids in terms of pedestrian circulation and layout, and it also fit in with the Marina Bay landscape best. They liked that the hotel towers were set back from the waterfront to open up expansive views of the city and the entire Marina Bay, making the skyline for Singapore's downtown more attractive and distinctive.

The engineering for the project was headed by Arup and Parsons Brinkerhoff (MEP/ELV). Arup had originally worked on prestigious projects such as the Beijing National Aquatics Centre and the Sydney Opera House. In spite of their experience in constructing challenging designs, the Marina Bay Sands project was described as the 'most difficult to carry out in the whole world' due to the amount of integration of the varied and advanced technologies needed to complete the project.

Investement/Cost:

Las Vegas Sands initially committed to invest $3.85 billion into the project, not including the fixed $1.2 billion cost of the 560,000 square meter (6,000,000 square foot) site itself.With the escalating costs of materials, such as sand and steel, as well as labor shortages owing to other major infrastructure and property development in the country, Sheldon Adelson placed the total cost of the development at $8 billion as of July 2009

Las Vegas Sands declared the undertaking as "one of the world's most challenging construction projects and certainly the most expensive stand-alone integrated resort property ever built". It expects the casino to generate at least $1 billion in annual profit.

Two months after the initial phased opening, the casino attracted around 25,000 visitors daily, about a third being Singaporeans and permanent residents who pay a $200 daily entry levy or $2,000 for annual unlimited access. Half a million gamblers passed through the casino in June 2010.

For the economy, Marina Bay Sands is projected to stimulate an addition of $2.7 billion or 0.8% to Singapore's Gross Domestic Product by 2015, employing 10,000 people directly and 20,000 jobs being created in other industries.

Attractions:

There are 9 main attractions to the resort.

The Hotel: The three 55-story towers contain 2,560 luxury rooms and suites totaling 265,683 square meters
Sands Skypark: the three hotel towers are connected at the top (200 meters/656 feet) by a 9,941 square meter (107,000 square foot) park that brings together a public observatory, jogging paths, gardens, restaurants, lounges, and an infinity swimming pool
- This 1.2 hectare (3 acre) tropical oasis is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall and large enough to park four-and-a-half A380 jumbo jets
- It spans from tower to tower and cantilevers 65 meters (213 feet) beyond to form one of the world’s largest public cantilevers. It is 340 meters (1,115 feet) long from the northern tip to the south end
- The park’s maximum width is 40 meters (131 feet)
- The 1,396 square meter (15,026 square foot) swimming pool is the largest outdoor pool at its height and has a 145 meter (475 foot) vanishing edge
- The entire park can host up to 3,900 people
- Its lush gardens include 250 trees and 650 plants
Casino: the “atrium style” casino features four levels of gaming and entertainment in one space totaling 15,000 square meters (161,500 square feet) with the atrium ceiling holding a 7 ton chandelier with 132,000 Swarovski crystals and 66,000 LEDs
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands: includes over 74,322 square meters (800,000 square feet) of retail and restaurant space
Sands Expo and Convention Center: consists of 121,000 square meters of flexible convention and exhibition space, including one of the largest ballrooms in Asia with area of 8,000 square meters and the capacity to host 11,000 people
Museum of Art Science: is 15,000 square meters with 6,000 meters of gallery space, a 3,000 square meter lily pond at grade and has a palm measuring 80 meters in diameter reaching 62 meters above grade and 11 meters below grade
Theaters: The two theaters are 21,980 square meters with a combined 4,000 seats
Crystal Pavilions: the 5,914 square meters Crystal Pavilions house shops and nightclubs and are the first glass and steel structures to be set in Marina Bay
Event Plaza: is 5,000 square meters and capable of hosting 10,000 people for a diverse range of local and international live performances.

I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely mesmerized by this awesome structure, and I hope you enjoyed reading and learning about the Marina Sands Bay Resort as much as I enjoyed learning about it when I researched and wrote this article.