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How the durian arrived on the bay.

No one planned for the national performing arts centre to resemble the king of fruits.


Back in the 1980s, the winning design proposal for Esplanade was for the centre to be a lantern in the park. The design by DP Architects and Michael Wilford & Partners evolved from a flower-shaped layout, to what was described as "concrete blobs", even bread loaves and marshmallows. Its final iteration eventually put Esplanade on the map.

Image of winning design proposal for Esplanade featuring two lit domes as lanterns in the park.
Image of Rope Access Technicians cleaning the cladding on the roof of Esplanade's structure.

Our thorny domes were the first iconic additions to the then developing Marina Bay district.


Our spikes, which we call cladding, are aluminum sun shades affixed to the double-glazed glass ceilings of our main performance venues. These ingenious spikes are designed to let just enough light in while blocking out the tropical heat.


Each cladding is cleaned by hand by trained Rope Access Technicians equipped with safety lines, working ropes and harnesses. It takes approximately two months to clean both of our spiky shells.

Why we are theatres ON the bay


Built on reclaimed land, Esplanade was named for the nearby Esplanade Park, one of the oldest public parks in Singapore. Older Singaporeans remember the area as a breezy recreational space and the venue of the beloved Satay Club, a legendary cluster of satay stalls.

Beautiful inside and out


Like our unique exterior, our interior and performance spaces were designed in consultation with three advisory groups comprising 74 members, developers, a retail company and government bodies, as well as a panel of seven Asian arts experts. This ensured that we would be able to accommodate the demands of Asian arts performances, particularly those of the traditional arts.

Esplanade's stunning Concert Hall is the master work of the late respected acoustician Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants Inc. Johnson's cutting-edge approach to acoustics resulted in our Concert Hall possessing one of the best acoustics among concert halls around the world. With innovative and refined acoustic features, this world-class performing venue can also be adjusted to suit a wide range of Asian and Western arts performances across genres.

Image of Y columns, the pillars that support Esplanade’s twin domes and Esplanade Forecourt Garden.

Committed to being green


The Y columns are not just pillars that support our domes but they also collect rain water, which we then treat and use to clean our facade and water our plants. By planting more trees in our Forecourt Garden and along our waterfront, we hope to continually offset our carbon footprint.

Changing our fluorescent lamps to LED lights centrewide has saved around 2.63 million kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to electricity consumed by 553 four-room HDB flats in a year. Lights onstage will also be upgraded to LED ones soon.

The Next Stage

Discover our newest performance venue, the Singtel Waterfront Theatre, which opens its doors in the second half of 2022.

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