Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is a waterside building located on six hectares of waterfront land alongside Marina Bay near the mouth of the Singapore River, purpose-built to be the centre for performing arts for the island nation of Singapore. Taking its name from the nearby Esplanade, it contains a concert hall which seats about 1,600 and a theatre with a capacity of about 2,000 for the performing arts.

History

The Esplanade occupies the site of the former "Satay Club", a popular food haunt for Singaporeans which had been discontinued prior to the Esplanade’s construction. Currently, the "Satay Club" has been re-allocated next to Sembawang Shopping Center which is now rebuilt on the same piece of land.

Officially opened on 12 October 2002, the Esplanade was developed at a cost of about SGD 600 million.

On 5 July 2005, the opening ceremony of the 117th IOC Session was staged in the Esplanade, featuring a 30-minute long performance aimed at showcasing Singapore’s multi-cultural heritage to her international audience.

For its last financial year ending March 2014, the Esplanade incurred a loss of S$2.3 million, the first operating deficit in its history. This loss was despite the Esplanade racking up relatively similar numbers in terms of audience attendance and activities from the previous year and was attributed primarily to the drop in sponsorship and donations.

Design

The building was designed by two architectural firms working in conjunction: by DP Architects (DPA) of Singapore and the London-based Michael Wilford & Partners (MWP), although the latter left the project in May 1995. The design consists of two rounded space frames fitted with triangulated glass elements and sunshades, which balance outward views with solar shading

The original design, presented to the public in 1994, consisted of unadorned glass cases over the theatres, and initially elicited criticisms from the public, including calling it "two copulating aardvarks". Critics also accused that the design is insensitive to Singapore’s location and climate as it would have created a greenhouse in the tropical climate of Singapore, but according to DPA director Vikas Gore some form of shading was always intended, and a cladding of aluminium sunshades was added to the final design. The unique architectural design has been said to have an appearance similar to either a durian (a tropical fruit) or the eyes of a fly. Hence, the building is colloquially known to locals as "the durians".

Theatres on the Bay

The library@esplanade is located on the third floor of the building. There are outdoor performing centres, and retail and food space at the Esplanade Mall. There is an outdoor open space on the fourth floor of the building, which is the highest point open to the public.

As one of the world’s busiest arts centres, Esplanade offers a wide range of programmes. In addition to Esplanade Presents performances, other offerings by diverse presenters complement the programmes at the centre.

Esplanade’s programmes are broadly organised around key areas – the community and access programmes form the foundation of activities at the centre, collaborations with mainly local arts groups help develop the industry, while leading international productions aim to offer innovative programmes in the major arts genres. These programmes are presented in different festivals and series designed to appeal to a broad range of audiences.

Esplanade’s in-house programming team presents over 14 festivals and 20 on-going series throughout the year. As a centre for everyone, the programmes range from PLAYtime! for 2 to 4-year olds, Bitesize – a monthly talk and workshop taster series for a range of Arts topics, to at the Concourse – a non-ticketed music series that runs everyday of the year, as well as Coffee Morning Afternoon Tea – concerts featuring nostalgic English and Chinese golden hits by veteran local artists.

Photo ©NCCong 2014