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| National Gallery Singapore For reference, taken from here |
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| National Gallery Singapore For reference, taken from here |
I recently revisited the National Gallery Singapore, which contains the world’s largest public collection Southeast Asian art. To be honest, I revisited it mostly to observe the architecture there for it houses two national monuments, which are the former Supreme Court Building and City Hall. I admire how the authorities preserved and restored these iconic monuments despite them being located on prime real estate land. I appreciate how adaptive reuse was utilized to conserve these buildings which played such a critical role in my country’s history. I also love how the architect team designed the exterior of the National Gallery to be constructed out of several layers of intricately carved glass panels to reduce the “greenhouse” effect which still allowed sunlight to penetrate into the central rotunda to light up the place.
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| The Star For reference, taken from here |
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| The Star For reference, taken from here |
My favourite building is the Star, which is designed by Aedas, and located in Singapore. This building is especially significant to me because it houses my church in the Star Performing Arts Centre on Sundays, serves as an auditorium with a seating capacity of 5000 on other days, and is also home to multiple levels of retail. I admire how the Star has multiple uses, but what I love most is its form. The beams supporting the upper berth all slant diagonally to support the auditorium, which features curved windows, where no two windows are alike. This gives the perception that the auditorium is hovering over an open-air terraced mall, which always leaves me intrigued.
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| Westminster Abbey For reference, taken from here |
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| Westminster Abbey For reference, taken from here |
An architectural feat I would love to visit would be the Westminster Abbey. Ever since I stumbled onto pictures of it on a calendar featuring famous architecture when I was a child, I have always been in awe of its rustic but grand exterior. I love how even though it has such a long history, it is still truly timeless and culturally significant even today. I have searched for photographs of both its interior and exterior but I feel that pictures are unable to do the architecture justice and that the only way I can truly appreciate its intricate design would be to see it for myself in real life.
Word Count (excluding picture captions): 447 words
