Singapore Marina Line

We were selected in March 2000 by the Land Transport Authority, Singapore to participate in a concept design competition for six underground stations.
The success of any metro architecture is the clarity, convenience, comfort and pleasure it offers the commuter. Our proposed planning and architectural concept of ‘light as an icon’ responded to these concerns in the three key areas: the sense of welcome in the entrances, the spatial and light qualities of the journey down to the platforms and the platform environment. There should be nowhere on the Marina Line where the commuter will experience any claustrophobic effects.

Our entrance concept is a sensitively sculpted ground plane creating a natural entrance arena which provides a generous threshold, a sense of civility, continuity and connectivity with an emphasis on the garden city image.

The platform is the most important space of any metro so an aesthetically pleasing and comfortable environment must be created. We proposed large pools of light via specially designed light scoops. These light scoops are the architectural icons, presenting a unified theme and image for the entire Marina Line. At night, they appear as luminous beacons in the cityscape. Through them the MRT line becomes more than a transportation conduit.
The Museum Station’s sunken garden and light scoops complements the museum setting. The sight corridor between the National Museum and Singapore Art Museum is preserved.

At Boulevard Station, the garden image flows naturally from external to internal, and the sense of transition from outdoors to indoors is gradual and non-intrusive. This design principle applies to all the other shallow stations.

We were awarded third place on both stations.