STORY 07
The Liquid Padang
2001
2009
2012
2022
“Seen as a whole, Marina Bay is a rectangular, flat piece of water surface that has been artificially constructed, with its edges flanked by mostly new buildings that are key to Singapore’s next phase of development as a global city. Spatially, it is a “liquid padang”, serving similar functions but providing a view towards the city’s future, especially since the colonial Padang and its period buildings have been mostly emptied of their original functions – most recently the amalgamation of City Hall and the Supreme Court into the National Gallery Singapore. Collectively, the old and the new “padang” evoke the giant leaps of time and progress that Singapore has made since Raffles first envisioned his town plan in 1822.”