Lifestyle

10 Facts About MBS Other Than Its High-SES Price & Its Infinity Pool

2019-07-03 , 6:00 am

Admittedly, some of us don’t really know what Marina Bay Sands (MBS) is.

Does it refer to the hotel? The shopping mall? The casino?

The answer is: all of it.

MBS is the name of the Integrated Resort that combines all of the above, plus others such as theatres, a skating rink, and the famous infinity pool on top.

Here are 10 more facts that will help you get to know the resort better!

One of the World’s most expensive buildings

At a glance, you would probably expect the building to have cost a fortune to build, and you would be absolutely right. In fact, MBS, which cost a whopping USD$5.5billion, is listed amongst the Top 5 Most Expensive Buildings in the World, alongside our Resort World Sentosa too. We Singaporeans are sure rich.

Designed by a prominent architect

With its unique design (you have to admit that), it’s no surprise that MBS has a world-famous architect to thank for its existence. Behind the blueprint was Moshe Safdie, an architect widely recognized for his prominent works such as the National Gallery of Canada, United States Federal Courthouse, and the United States Institute of Peace Headquarters.

The SkyPark is pretty impressive

You know, the thing that sits atop the three columns that looks like a plane without wings? It is elevated at 200 metres above the ground and weighs a grand total of 6.3 million kg. Can you imagine how tough it must have been to build?

It has some huge suites

It’s no secret that a night’s stay in the cheapest room in MBS is still ridiculously expensive, setting you back more than $500. Some of us might not even dream of being able to stay there in our lifetime. Did you know that there are actually two super exclusive Chairman Suites that are the size of over two tennis courts or five 4-room HDB flats? Yup, and it can be yours for a night at $20,000.

It’s really, really big

Sure, we know it’s big but do we know how big it is? MBS has a floor area of 570,000 sq m, of which 93,000 sqm are solely retail outlets, including F&B. That makes the building the size of approximately 80 football fields! Sure doesn’t seem that big from the outside.

It opened with a boom

MBS has grown to become somewhat iconic amongst foreigners and tourists, probably helped by its unforgettable design and the convenience of it being an Integrated Resort. Even when it was newly opened, it was already super popular. In its first year of operating, it attracted 19.6 million visitors and played host to almost 2,000 meetings, conventions, and exhibitions.

World-famous Infinity pool

Some of us can only dream of getting to swim in the Infinity Pool that is perched right at the top of MBS, with its breathtaking view of Singapore. It’s also been granted the title of the World’s longest elevated infinity pool, being the size of 3 Olympic pools and containing more than a thousand tonnes of water, which is more than a million litres!

Featured in a popular film…in a weird manner

If you’ve heard of the 2016 American sci-fi film Independence Day: Resurgence which grossed $389.7 million worldwide, you might have known that Singapore makes a quick cameo in the show! In the trailer, MBS is shown getting destroyed by alien spacecrafts with some pretty cool graphics. Hopefully this doesn’t really happen anytime soon.

Famous visitors

Basically, name every famous celebrity you can think of and they have probably visited MBS at some point. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Pelé, Super Junior, Linkin Park, and the list goes on.

The art is no joke

It’s not just the building of MBS that cost a huge ton of money, but even the art that is included as part of the interior design is of a substantial amount, with over $50 million worth of art installation within it. That’s not all that is impressive: one of the art pieces called Rain Oculus has about 6,000 gallons of water flowing per minute. I don’t really want to know how much it cost.

Most of us probably won’t go to MBS much in our everyday lives, seeing as it’s pretty atas and out of the way.

But maybe if you’re free, just make a quick trip down to marvel at how grand it is inside and shudder at how much money went into building it.