Recently, I watched a documentary from Megastructures series on Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. The documentary generally shown us the design development and the engineering marvel of the project which is an integrated resort comprising of hotel, convention and exhibition centre, observatory, shopping mall, casino, etc. Completed in 2010, it is billed as the world’s most expensive standalone casino property and it subsequently became a new iconic landmark for Singapore. Here’s below is the less-than-an-hour documentary about Marina Bay Sands I mentioned just now:
I had visited Marina Bay Sands twice in the past. I admired its bold appearance, striking design, iconic features as well as its picturesque setting on the Singapore waterfront. As I have been there myself, I saw other things on par with the beauty of the overall form and view of this megastructure that should be mentioned. Those are the art installations in the resort. The most striking installations of them would be the ‘Wind Arbor’, ‘Rain Oculus’ and ‘Tipping Wall’ and they were all designed by an environmental artist and sculptor named Ned Kahn.
His works usually involves capturing an invisible aspect of nature and making it visible; examples include building facades that move in waves in response to wind; indoor tornadoes and vortices made of fog, steam, or fire; a transparent sphere containing water and sand which, when spun, erodes a beach-like ripple pattern into the sand surface. For me, his masterpieces amplify nature, make use of naturally activated kinetic energy, made spectators aware of the nature around us, complement the spaces they are at very well while strongly engage to the public. I’m fascinated by his works which are also present in many other parts of the world.
Below is a video describing Ned Kahn’s works in Marina Bay Sands and the resort’s architect, Moshe Safdie’s comments on the former’s art works.
Beautiful, aren’t they? These works made me admire Marina Bay Sands more as they add extra aesthetics and beauty to the already striking design of the resort.
Wind Arbor (topmost), Rain Oculus (middle), and Tipping Wall (bottom) are in Marina Bay Sands and are all designed by Ned Kahn. Watch the video above to see how these amazing art installations work.
Dedicated to exploring the physics and beauty of natural phenomena such as Fog, Wind, Fire, Light, Sand, and Water, Ned Kahn uses his abundant technical skills to bring these elements to the public through interactive sculptures and large scale installations in buildings, galleries and science museums worldwide. Giant whirlwinds, dramatic fire tornadoes and rippling current generators call attention to the forces of nature available to us on demand through art yet take place independently through weather and geological processes. Other phenomena such as ocean wave action, wind and the play of sunlight through fog are explored through outdoor installations which encourage appreciation for our environment.
“I’ve always looked at my artworks as potentially serving as reminders of how beautiful and mysterious Nature is, with the hope that when people have an experience of awe while watching a natural process unfold, it can fuel their compassion towards the natural world. I’ve tried to create an art that gives people a chance to have this kind of experience.”
Sources:
http://greenmuseum.org/artist_index.php?artist_id=55
