STORY 07

The Liquid Padang


2001



2009



2012



2022


Post-Independence of the 1960s continues the praxis of land reclamation, creating two artificial bays and newborn landmasses for a whole new city to emerge. 

“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.”