When Singapore began reclaiming land from the sea in the 1970s, they began one of the world’s few downtown urban expansion projects. Now Singapore’s largest urban development, Marina Bay has evolved into a modern, work, live and play city environment. Seeking to bring the area’s human story home to the public while accentuating its modern appeal and developments, the Urban Redevelopment Authority granted gsmprjct° the mandate to design a visitor’s centre for Marina Bay.
In keeping with the city’s sleek, avant-garde look, gsmprjct° designed an interactive scale model of the city as the keystone of the centre, whose translucent surface is backlit by an LED screen. The model comes to life with an impressionistic, artistic video of the city’s buzz on a typical day, from the birds on the waterfront greeting the urban dwellers in the morning to the hustle of its financial towers throughout the day. After the video, visitors can then activate touch-screen icons of city landmarks, illuminating the corresponding element on the model.
Around the model are several interactive installations that reveal the human aspect of Marina Bay, presenting the testimony of its urban planners and the sustainable practices it promotes. To bring the content home to the average citizen, a fun, hands-on approach was adopted where citizens can browse through an interactive timeline at their pace or tap a spot on a map to discover the city’s landmarks, from malls to public art and architecture.