A missed opportunity to see Marina Bay Sands, Moshe Safdie’s landmark hotel in Singapore

Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and the ArtScience Museum (right) … designed by Moshe Safdie (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I had thought of travelling to Singapore and Kuching last weekend with Charlotte. Circumstances changed, however, and I am in Stony Stratford. She is in the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on a family visit, and I am sorry to have missed the opportunity to see one of the great architectural works by Moshe Safdie, one of the world's greatest living architects.

Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay and a landmark of Singapore. When it opened in 2010, it was said to be the world’s most expensive standalone casino property.

The resort includes a 1,850-room hotel, a 120,000 sq m facility for meetings and conventions at Sands Expo & Convention Centre, a 74,000 sq m luxury shopping mall, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, an ArtScience museum, a 2,183-seat theatre, the world's first floating Apple store, the world’s first Louis Vuitton Island Maison, celebrity chef and signature restaurants, and a casino with 500 tables and 3,000 electronic gaming machines.

The complex includes three towers topped by the Sands Skypark, a 340 metre skyway connecting the towers with a capacity of 3,902 people and a 150 metre infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world’s largest public cantilevered platform that overhangs the north tower by 66.5 metres.

The 20 ha resort was designed by Moshe Safdie, an Israeli-Canadian-American architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible design throughout his career. His projects include cultural, educational and civic institutions such as neighbourhoods and public parks, housing, mixed-use urban centres, and airports.

Moshe Safdie is most identified with designing both Marina Bay Sands and Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore. His debut project, Habitat 67 in Montreal, was originally conceived as his thesis at McGill University.

Sadie, who is a citizen of Israel, Canada and the US, was born in Haifa on 14 July 1938 to a family of Syrian Jews: his father was from Aleppo, and his mother, whose family originated in Aleppo, was from Manchester. When he was 15, his family emigrated to Montreal in Canada, where he studied architecture at McGill University.

His projects include: Habitat 67 at Expo 67 World’s Fair, Montreal (1967); the Class of 1959 Chapel, Harvard Business School, Boston (1992); Yad Vashem Children’s and Deportees Memorials, Jerusalem (1995); Vancouver Library Square (1995); David Citadel Hotel and David’s Village, Jerusalem (1998); Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem (1998); Yitzhak Rabin Centre, Tel Aviv (1999); Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv (2004); Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum (2005); Toronto Pearson International Airport (2007); Jewel Changi Airport, Singapore (2019); and Raffles City, Chongqing, China (2020).

The Jewel at Changi Airport, Singapore, was designed by Moshe Safdie in 2020 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Marina Bay Sands is one of two winning proposals for Singapore’s first integrated resorts, the other being the Resorts World Sentosa.

Las Vegas Sands described 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 expected the casino to generate at least $1 billion in annual profits. Two months after the initial phased opening, the casino was attracting around 25,000 visitors a day, about a third being Singaporeans and permanent residents who paid a $150 daily entry levy or $3,000 for annual unlimited access.

For the economy, Marina Bay Sands was projected to stimulate an addition of $2.7 billion or 0.8% to Singapore’s GDP by 2015, employing 10,000 people directly and creating 20,000 jobs in other industries.

Sands announced a $3.3 billion expansion of its Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore on 3 April 2019. The expansion will include the construction of a fourth hotel tower with 1,000 luxury suites and a 15,000-seat arena.

The Marina Bay Sands seen at night from the Padang or Singapore Cricket Club Ground (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

When we were looking at the Marina Bay Sands at night last year from the Padang or Singapore Cricket Club Ground last year, Charlotte and I wondered whether its design was inspired by a cricket wicket, with the Sands SkyPark imitating the bails on top of the three stumps.

But Moshe Safdie says his design was initially inspired by card decks. The prominent feature of the design is the three hotel towers, which have 1,850 rooms and suites, and a continuous lobby at the base linking the three towers. The casino has a four-storey central atrium with four levels of gaming and entertainment in one space.

In addition to the hotel and the casino, other buildings include a 19,000 sq m ArtScience Museum, and Sands Expo & Convention Centre with 110,000 sq m of space, capable of accommodating up to 45,000 people. The resort’s architecture and major design changes along the way were also approved by its feng shui consultants, the late Chong Swan Lek and Louisa Ong-Lee.

The three towers are broader at the base and narrow as they rise. Each tower has two asymmetric legs, with a curved eastern leg leaning against the other, creating a significant technical challenge in its construction. Substantial temporary structures were necessary to support the legs of the tower while they were under construction, and required real-time monitoring for continual assessment and analyses while they were being built.

A distinctive feature of the hotel is Sands SkyPark, a 1.2 ha tropical oasis that is longer than the Eiffel Tower and extends to form one of the world’s longest public cantilevers. It was built at the height of 200 m, the structure offers 12,400 sq m of space – big enough to fit three football fields – and bridges all three towers with a segment cantilevered off the north tower.

The hull of the SkyPark was prefabricated off-site in 14 separate steel sections and then assembled on top of the towers. There are four movement joints beneath the main pools, designed to help them withstand the natural motion of the towers, and each joint has a unique range of motion. The total range of motion is 500 mm. In addition to wind, the hotel towers are also subject to settlement in the earth over time, so engineers built and installed custom jack legs to allow for future adjustment at more than 500 points beneath the pool system. This jacking system is important primarily to ensure the infinity edge of the pool continues to function properly.

The Rain Oculus above the shopping mall canal was designed by Ned Kahn, the California-based environmental artist and sculptor.

Marina Bay Sands was originally planned to be completed in a single phase in 2009, but rising costs and the 2008 financial crisis forced the company to open it in phases. The first phase’s soft opening was further delayed until 27 April 2010, and the official opening was pushed back to 23 June 2010. The rest of the complex remained under construction and was opened after a grand opening on 17 February 2011.

Marina Bay Sands had the first of a planned three to four phase openings on 27 April 2010. The casino, parts of the conference hall, a segment of the Shoppes, 963 hotel rooms and the event plaza were opened at the auspicious time of 3:18 pm as part of the ‘preview opening’.

The Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) held the first conference at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre on 2-5 May 2010, but the event was marred by uncompleted facilities and a power failure during a speech.

The resort had its official opening with a two-day celebration on 23 June 2010. This included the Sands SkyPark, the Event Plaza along Marina Bay, more shops, additional dining options and nightlife events, and the rest of the hotel rooms.

First day events included a ‘World Championship Climb’ on the glass façade of the building to the SkyPark, with seven teams of 21 top rock climbers from around the world competing, and an evening concert for 4,000 invited guests and customers. The SkyPark was opened on the second day, with about 2,000 adult tickets costing S$20 each.

Sands Theatre was completed in time for a performance of the Riverdance on 30 November 2010.

ArtScience Museum opened its doors to the public on 19 February 2011. The musical The Lion King made its debut on 3 March 2011. The floating pavilions were opened when the tenants Louis Vuitton and Pangaea Club finished their refurbishment and opened on 18 September 2011 and 22 September 2011.

Marina Bay Sands is expanding their property with a new development set to be complete by 2031, at an estimated cost of S$10.3 billion (US$8 billion). Plans for the standalone fourth tower was announced in 2019, and will feature 570 luxury suites, 10,220 sq m of MICE space, its own SkyPark, and a 15,000 capacity arena. In addition, all the hotel rooms in the existing structure have been renovated this year.

Marina Bay Sands has three 55-storey hotel towers which were topped out in July 2009. The three towers are connected by a 1.2 hectare rooftop cantilever, Sands SkyPark. The Skypark observation deck provides panoramic views across the bay.

The ArtScience Museum is built next to the three blocks and has the shape of a lotus, composed of 21 gallery spaces with a total floor area of about 5,000 sqm. The building is composed of 10 ‘fingers’, with the tallest standing 60 metres above ground. Its roof is retractable, providing a waterfall through the roof of collected rainwater when closed in the day and laser shows when opened at night.

The SkyPark has the world’s longest elevated swimming pool, with a 146-metre infinity pool 191 metres above ground. The pools are made up of 191,000 kg of stainless steel and can hold 1,425 cubic metres of water.

A canal runs through the length of the Shoppes, in the same style as the Venetian in Las Vegas, and Sampan rides on the canal are available for guests and shoppers, similar to the gondola rides offered in the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Perhaps I’ll get back to Kuching next year, with an opportunity to stop over in Singapore again and to see Marina Bay Sands.


Five minutes at the Jewel, Changi Airport, Singapore (Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 148, Tuesday 7 October 2025

Christ in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus … a panel in the Herkenrode glass windows in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI, 5 October).

Today is the second anniversary of the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, Netiv haAsara, Kfar Aza, and the Nova music festival in Israel on 7 October 2024, with brutal murders and kidnappings and leading to the present conflagration in Gaza and that is still threatening to engulf the whole Middle East.

This situation, doubtless, is a priority for many of us in our prayers throughout this day, still hoping for the release of the remaining hostages or their bodies, praying for an immediate ceasefire and praying and hoping for peace and justice for people in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, and in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen.

Before today begins, however, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Christ in the home of Mary and Martha … the East Window in Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Watford, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 10: 38-42 (NRSVA):

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41 But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary by Diego Velázquez (1630)

Today’s Reflection:

Saint Luke’s story of the meal that Jesus has with his friends Mary and Martha is not found in the other synoptic gospels, and the only other parallel is in the Fourth Gospel, where Jesus visits Mary and Martha after the death of Lazarus.

So the meals Jesus has with Mary and Martha must be understood in the light of the Resurrection, which is prefigured by the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

For many women, and for many men too, the story of the meal with Martha and Mary raises many problems, often created by insights that may not have been possible to have at the time when Saint Luke’s Gospel was written.

Our approach to understanding and explaining this meal very often depends on the way in which I understand Martha and the busy round of activities that have her distracted, and that cause her to complain to Jesus about her sister’s apparent lack of zeal and activity.

These activities in the Greek are described as Martha’s service – she is the deacon at the table: where the NRSV says ‘But Martha was distracted by her many tasks,’ the Greek says: ἡ δὲ Μάρθα περιεσπᾶτο περὶ πολλὴν διακονίαν (‘But Martha was being distracted by much diaconal work, service at the table’).

Quite often, when this story is told, over and over, again and again, it is told as if Martha is getting stroppy about having to empty the dishwasher while Mary is lazing, sitting around, making small talk with Jesus.

Does Martha see that Mary should only engage in kitchen work too?

Does she think, perhaps, that only Lazarus should be out at the front of the house, keeping Jesus engaged in lads’ banter about the latest league match between Bethany United and Jerusalem City?

Is Jesus being too dismissive of Martha’s complaints?

Or is he defending Mary’s right to engage in a full discussion of the Word, to engage in an alive ministry of the Word?

Martha is presented in this story as the dominant, leading figure. It is she who takes the initiative and who welcomes Jesus into her home (verse 38); it is she who offers the hospitality, who is the host at the meal, who is the head of the household – in fact, Lazarus isn’t even on the stage for this scene, and Mary is merely ‘her sister’ – very much the junior partner in the household.

Yet it is Mary, the figure on the margins, who offers the sort of hospitality that Jesus commends and praises.

Mary simply listens to Jesus, sitting at his feet, like a student would sit at the feet of a great rabbi or teacher, waiting and willing to learn what is being taught.

Martha is upset about this, and comes out from the back and asks Jesus to pack off Mary to the kitchen where she can help Martha.

But perhaps Martha was being too busy with her household tasks.

I was once invited to dinner by people I knew as good friends. And for a long time I was left on my own with the other guest as the couple busied themselves with things in the kitchen – they had decided to do the washing up before bringing out the coffee … the wife knew that if she left the washing up until later, the husband would shirk his share of the task.

But being left on our own was a little embarrassing. Part of the joy of being invited to someone’s home for dinner is the conversation around the table.

When I have been on retreats, at times, in Greek Orthodox and Benedictine monasteries, conversation at the table has been discouraged by a monk reading, usually from the writings of the Early Fathers, from the Patristic writings.

A good meal, good table fellowship, good hospitality, are not just about the food that is served, but about the ideas and words shared, heard and listened to around the table too.

One commentator suggests that Martha has gone overboard in her duties of hospitality. She has spent too much time preparing the food, and has failed to pay real attention to her guest.

On the other hand, Mary has chosen her activity (verse 42). It does not just happen by accident. Mary has chosen to offer Jesus the real hospitality that a guest should receive. She talks to Jesus, and real conversation is about both talking and listening.

If she is sent back into the kitchen, then – in the absence of Lazarus, indeed, in the notable absence of the disciples – Jesus would be left without hospitality, without words of welcome, without conversation.

Perhaps Martha might have been better off if she had a more simple lifestyle, if she prepared just one dish for her guest and for her family – might I be bold enough to suggest, if she had been content for them to sup on bread and wine alone.

She could have joined Mary in her hospitality, in welcoming Jesus to their home and to their table; they could have been in full communion with one another.

In this way, Martha will experience what her sister is experiencing, but which she is too busy to notice – their visitor’s invitation into the hospitality of God.

One commentator, Brendan Byrne, points out the subtle point being made in this story:

‘Frenetic service, even service of the Lord, can be a deceptive distraction from what the Lord really wants. Luke has already warned that the grasp of the word can be choked by the cares and worries of life … Here the cares and worries seem well justified – are they not in the service of the Lord? But precisely therein lies the power of the temptation, the great deceit. True hospitality – even that given directly to the Lord – attends to what the guest really wants.’

‘Christ at the home of Martha and Mary,’ Georg Friedrich Stettner (1639)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 7 October 2025):

The theme this week (5 to 11 October) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Disability inclusion in Zimbabwe’ (pp 44-45). This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from Makomborero Bowa, Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy Religion and Ethics in the University of Zimbabwe.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 7 October 2025) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, inspire us to think of ways that truly transform our churches and communities into places that reflect your love and welcome all.

The Collect:

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love is the fulfilling of the law:
grant that we may love you with our whole heart
and our neighbours as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives’ end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The Risen Christ with Mary of Bethany (left) and Mary Magdalene (right) … a stained glass window in Saint Nicholas’s Church, Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org