Hi every1, i'm very new here....hav been visitng as a guest all these while. Currently taking my O lvls. Tmr will be the SYF comp...one of the last few events to be hosted at this very special venue. I'll try my best to take some photos and post it online. I hope that all my uncles here will guide me thru and provide me with constructive and sensible advices, comments and suggestions :) :) May GOD bless us all!!

Welcome to the forum......do take more pictures and post it here....:D

Note: Do resize your picture to 800 X 600 (or something around that range) so that it's easier to see on the forum.....thanks....:D:D:D Waiting for your pictures....:yes:

i juz gt a new dslr....lost one last yr...sigh
was rather restricted...must stay wif my sch...and i used the kit lens...no $$ to buy new lens...

here they r

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7981/nationalstadium6eh.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7766/nationalstadium25ts.jpg

http://img287.imageshack.us/img287/6986/nationalstadium54xa.jpg

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/430/nationalstadium71ia.jpg[

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4097/nationalstadium80im.jpg

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/6782/nationalstadium91ez.jpg

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/8572/nationalstadium104if.jpg

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/9453/nationalstadium34tu.jpg

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/3699/nationalstadium66pd.jpg

And a final farewell...
http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/8893/nationalstadium49gq.jpg


Oh...btw does any1 noe of prog that allows panoramic merging of photos?...wld appreciate it greatly!

Thanks for sharing the pics of its interior. :)

Just google "Panorama Stitch" for the software.

wow great pics!!!

very colourful...its like the stadium, though very concretey and simple, comes alive with the people...the perfect receptacle!

I like this persepctive:

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/6782/nationalstadium91ez.jpg

^^ i like that one too... look like some very grand architecture...

Haha....thanks for the compliment man...i think i still hav lots more to learn, Used to see many wonderful shots by hyacinthus, raffles, babystan & many others as well...

^^ they are pros... too much to learn from them... lol

Haix the national stadium looks really older than the last time i went there when i was primary 5.

Great shots Kenexcel4! :okay:

Yea.....UNCLE STAN (Babystan) take very pro pics! :D

ANyway would the NDP be held at the stadium this year? :?

ANyway would the NDP be held at the stadium this year? :?

yes this will be the LAST TIME it will be held in the national stadium

The first and last time I went was in 1998... :cry:

Makes me sound old liao... hehehehe!

Aiyoh.....wanted to attend but its on a Wednesday :( ...dunno can take a few days off or something or not. If weekend easier cos can stay longer :yes:

Great shots Kenexcel4! :okay:

Yea.....UNCLE STAN (Babystan) take very pro pics! :D

ANyway would the NDP be held at the stadium this year? :?

Aiyo....what Uncle.....a taxi driver just mistaken me for a NS boy(18 years old) ok..... :bash: :lol::jk:

Actually my pictures ok only loh.....not as fab as hyacinthus, raffie, szehoong and Cliffy......:D

Hi SZehoong,

yeah...this wld be the last yr @ the national stadium

i heard that next yr's celebration will be on a floating platform in the marina area...shd be interesting!!

i hope the new stadium hav a sg identity...nt lyk the beijing's 'bird next'...

Aiyo....what Uncle.....a taxi driver just mistaken me for a NS boy(18 years old) ok..... :bash: :lol::jk:




AHAHAHAHAHAHA :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:



Anyway thanks for the compliments! ;) You really take very nice-looking pictures and your beautiful pictures of Sg is really spicing up the rather dull section of the Malaysian Forum :yes:

Hi SZehoong,

yeah...this wld be the last yr @ the national stadium

i heard that next yr's celebration will be on a floating platform in the marina area...shd be interesting!!

i hope the new stadium hav a sg identity...nt lyk the beijing's 'bird next'...


A floating platform :eek: That sould be interesting :okay:


IMO I think that the Beijing Bird Nest is kinda more like an international design. In fact most architectural styles these days are international. I would wanna know how would ya consider a 'Singaporean style' ? ;)

was doin some simple rendering during my leisure time...tot that the stadium could be a iconic one...like how the allianz is to germany...

wareby there's this observatory tower that potrutes out at the front of the stadium like a hammer-head shark with maybe a restaurant....like many stadiums in uk eg. old trafford...having a mall in it...a museum dedicated to SG sports history...

and frm the view above it is actually the cresent moon of the singapore flag...with the five stars quite distinctively seen frm above...with maybe the stars in the middle (in terms of viewing it horizontally) "holding" the large monitors...like those hockey arenas... while the other wld form an arc that looks lyk a fin and frm an angle it looks like a majestic-looking fish emerging out of the water...while eg. nationaly day when the helicopter capture the bird's eye view...the stars and moon is very distinct...with fireworks or large 'sparkle' emitting ard its edge....at least when foreigners see they can identify it to be Sg's.

juz an ambitious concept of mine...

Action@National Stadium

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/5503/dsc0038fe4.jpg

Wooh...nice aerial shot u gt dere of both the indoor and outdoor stadium.

But wad's that beam-like thingy above the stadium....tractor beam defense system??...hehe

A stadium packed with memories old and new

1 Aug 06

The 33-year-old National Stadium will stage its last National Day Parade next week. For two of its staff, who have worked there for over 20 years, the stadium was their second home

http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20060731/ST_IMAGES_NDMRSTADIUMt.jpg

FRESH out of national service in 1975, Mr Yun Chee Chiew, then 22, landed his first job as an electrician with the Singapore Sports Council at the National Stadium.
Now, 31 years later, he calls it his 'second home'.

Then one of the largest buildings in Singapore, the size and majesty of the two-year-old stadium took his breath away.

Seeing the floodlights switched on on his first day at work was 'spectacular', recalls Mr Yun, misty-eyed. 'I'd never seen anything so beautiful.'

At concerts, Malaysia Cup matches - played there till 1994, when Singapore withdrew from the tournament - and National Day Parades, the packed crowd at the 55,000-capacity stadium always sent shivers of excitement down his spine.

From an electrician, his role soon grew to involve maintenance of the stadium floodlights.

His work gave him the opportunity to climb up the floodlight masts, some 70m above the ground. It gave him a heady feeling as he looked down from his perch almost 20 storeys high, getting a bird's-eye view of the breathtaking scenery.

And while he will miss the floodlights dearly when the stadium is closed for good, he will not leave empty-handed.

It was there that he met his wife; they have been married for 24 years.

He plans to 'take as many pictures as he can' before the stadium closes its gates. Another keepsake he will take with him - a cylinder from the floodlights.

From pop stars to the Pope, Mr Koh Thong Guan, 51, has seen them all from his little control room high above the crowd.

He joined the Singapore Sports Council in 1983 as a technical officer in charge of audio-visuals such as the scoreboard and sound system.

Now a manager for electronic services after 23 years there, he still vividly remembers one particular event.

The year was 1993, and pop icon Michael Jackson had just cancelled a concert at the National Stadium after making his fans wait for more than an hour.

The 45,000-strong noisy crowd was surprisingly well-behaved after hearing the bad news, said Mr Koh, though he did see some throw chairs in anger.

A dedicated employee, Mr Koh spends most of his time at the stadium, sometimes coming back to work on weekends and holidays.

But the time has come for an upgrade, acknowledges Mr Koh, 'To compete with others in the world, we must have the facilities first,' he said.

He will continue taking care of the other stadiums here as well as swimming complexes.

By Tania Tan & Marcel Lee Pereira

National Stadium to close on June 30

16 Apr 07

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/imagegallery/store/phpIMZCvP.jpg

SINGAPORE : The National Stadium is going to close for good on June 30, and on that day, it plans to go out with a bang, with events such as soccer games with ex-international players, a fireworks display, and a ceremonial dousing of the cauldron flame.

But before that, a host of events will be organised at the 34-year-old stadium.

The stadium - which was opened by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew - plans to get as many people as possible to visit it before closing.

Photography competitions, stadium tours to places like the floodlight tower, and 5-a-side soccer tournaments will be organised. And come July, after the stadium is torn down for redevelopment into the Sports Hub, commemorative souvenirs featuring the stadium will be made available.

Parliamentary Secretary (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports) Mr Teo Ser Luck said he would always remember the National Stadium for the way it could unite people through action.

He said, "The best example was when we all sang the National Anthem together. It was so loud...That shows there is a sense of identity among Singaporeans; that shows sports can bond people together."


By Ashraf Safdar, Channel NewsAsia

^ Should take picture of it b4 it's gone.......:yes:

Hope the fireworks is as good enough.....:yes:

Yup I hope there will be many pics....I too should pay it a last visit :D

I've heard people being chased from the stadium for taking photos inside. So now it's allowed? :lol:

Omg. I never thought this was possible, but i actually feel old.

Anyway, the last event to be held at the Stadium will be a Christian event: Global Day of Prayer.

I last been there 9 years ago (makes me sound so old). :cry::lol: Really brings back memories

Have they released any pics of the replacement yet?

the actual replacement has not been decided yet, there are several competing proposals:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=195772&page=11

http://www.pbase.com/gomus/image/77898007/original.jpg

my contribution to this Stadium Threads....

thank you GOMUS :)

SSC expects at least 35,000 at Saturday's ceremony

28 Jun 07

THE National Stadium is set for a grand send-off on Saturday.
While seats are still available, more than 35,000 spectators are expected to be at the farewell event.

Said Patrick Lee, the Singapore Sports Council's organising committee chairman (National Stadium Closure): 'As of today, about 15,000 tickets have been sold through Sistic. More than 90 per cent of the guests have confirmed their attendance.

'Thus, as of now, we are looking at nearly 35,000 people who would be at the stadium to bid their farewell to the Grand Old Dame.'

The number is expected to grow by Saturday.

The National Stadium can seat 55,000 people. Of these, 20,000 seats have been reserved for guests of the SSC and the sporting fraternity.

A total of 35,000 tickets have been put out for sale, of which 2,000 are premium tickets costing $40 each.

The $40 package comes with a $15 ticket to the LightsOut party after the closing ceremony.

It also includes goodies like drink vouchers and the chance to win Nokia NSeries phones in a lucky draw.

The other 33,000 tickets are sold at $15 each. They will cost $20 on Saturday.

Among the activities are a soccer match between Singapore and Australia and a game between Singapore and Malaysia veterans.

Sherman Yeo, 21, who will be going with friends, said: 'I am going to see the Australian stars like Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell.

'It is a rare chance to watch such quality players in action. I hope to see them at their best.'

For civil servant Jaya Sankaran, 46, the attraction is the chance to watch the likes of Quah Kim Song and Soh Chin Aun grace the Kallang pitch once again.

'I've been following Singapore's Malaysia Cup games since the late 1970s.

'Now that the stadium is closing down, I want to experience that nostalgic feeling again with my friends, for old times' sake. I'm hoping for a good game to bring back the old memories, just like the Malaysian Cup days.'

National University of Singapore student Jessalyn Tan, 22, just wants to soak in the occasion.

She said: 'The National Stadium is a Singapore icon and, after Saturday, there won't be any more events there.

'I have never watched an event at the National Stadium, so I want to be there to see it one last time before it closes.'

Seishen Gerard Ratnagopal, 20, is another who intends to relive the golden moments at Kallang.

'I was there for the Asean Cup finals, and the atmosphere was amazing. I hope Saturday's game will be just as good.'

For off-shore marine supervisor Henry Tan, 32, one of the attractions is the LightsOut Party organised by Zouk. The party will take place from 10pm to 3am after the closing ceremony.



By Royston Sim

Is the stadium confirmed to be closing now? I thought had been postponed to dec?

Is the stadium confirmed to be closing now? I thought had been postponed to dec?
The ceremony on 30 June was planned well ahead before they decided to extend the deadline for resubmission of the new Sports Hub proposals by September (due to the sudden decision to acquire the Oasis). Thus the ceremony date stays as planned but the actual closing date postponed till December.

Losing a slice of history

Ho Weng Hin, For The Straits Times
Fri, Jul 13, 2007
The Straits Times

THERE is something surreal about the frantic search that is currently going on for the time capsule buried somewhere within the National Stadium grounds when the foundation stone was laid on Feb 23, 1970.
That, and the publicity and fanfare that has surrounded the impending demolition of the stadium, makes me think of a grand and protracted funeral staged for a person who is yet alive and kicking.

The 35ha Kallang Park Sports Complex is set for a complete makeover under the first Public-Private-Partnership scheme in which construction and management are outsourced to private developers. As stated on the Sports Council website, the $800 million Sports Hub aims to 'draw international events to its world-class facilities and offer events management enterprises some of the largest potential crowds ever to assemble in Singapore'.

It is 'a business opportunity not to be missed', the website declares.

Interestingly, also mentioned in the same breath is the Integrated Resort at Marina, the mega-project to draw tourists and investors to Singapore.

Now flash back to 1973, when the National Stadium was first opened. Then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declared: 'From time to time, we shall throw up the exceptional sportsman or sportswoman. But that is not the aim of our sporting activities. I would rather see this stadium regularly used - morning, afternoon and night - by our students and adults from all over Singapore than to have it filled because of famous world-class teams.'

How times have changed. The promotion of sports is no longer for the purpose of building a healthy and robust society; it is now but one of many profitable leisure industries.

The demolition of the National Stadium was surely not inevitable, yet from the moment redevelopment plans were set in motion, its conservation was scarcely considered. Technocratic decisions premised upon its demolition progressively reduced manoeuvring space for exercising alternative options. In the process, the plot size was reduced by half, excluding an open space that could have accommodated new functions without demolishing the old.

The stadium was conspicuously omitted from the new plans, as if it never existed, even as other buildings, such as Oasis, Kallang Theatre and the Singapore Indoor Stadium, were highlighted and gave pause to the planners.

Still, being highlighted did not guarantee a place in posterity. The Oasis building, retained in earlier blueprints, has now been earmarked for demolition because the bidding consortia found it an inconvenience in their scheme of things.

An icon for nation-building

THE National Stadium is a good example of Brutalist modern architecture, a vigorous expression of utopian visions of a new society. It emphasises clarity in structure, discipline in planning and purity in the use of materials, projecting an image of restraint and rigour.

These heroic qualities are materialised in the soaring concrete structural frame, the vast, sweeping curves of the raked seating and the gravity-defying 20m cantilevered grandstand roof that did away with the need for columns.

Planned by the HDB Urban Renewal Department and designed by the now-defunct Public Works Department in the 1970s, the Kallang Park Sports Complex, with the stadium as its centrepiece, was no less grand a vision in its time than the proposed Sports Hub today.

Conceived of and brought into being by local planners and architects, it was the country's first attempt at such an ambitious building project, overcoming unknown odds with limited means.

The stadium, the largest in South-east Asia upon completion, featured state-of-the-art technology on a par with the best in the world, such as the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium and the Olympiastadion in Munich, both of which are still in use today.

Before 'Third World' became a dirty word, the National Stadium, where the South-east Asian Peninsular Games were held in 1973, represented solidarity and pride among developing South-east Asian countries.

Having hosted 35 years worth of exhilarating sporting events and rousing National Day Parades, it is unrivalled as a venue for the unreserved expression of patriotism for generations of Singaporeans.

Sadly, however, the stadium will soon join the rubble of two other obliterated nation-building icons, the National Theatre (1959-1984) and the Stamford Road National Library (1960-2004). Uncannily, in both cases, pseudo-technical reasons such as structural problems and road tunnelling works took precedence.

The spectre of the past constantly haunts public conscience: Were the sacrifices worth it? After 20 years, where the National Theatre once stood remains an impassive grass patch. Some have doubted if the five minutes saved by driving through the Fort Canning Tunnel is worth losing a well-loved landmark.

Currently, buildings less than 40 years old are not considered for National Monument listing. This loophole leaves out all the modern monuments that testify to Singapore's nation-building. Bridging differences in class, ethnicity and creed, the National Stadium, National Theatre and National Library, though not gazetted, are national monuments by birth.

Why do we find it inconceivable to tear down the colonial-era Supreme Court and City Hall while surrendering the National Stadium comes so easily?

Development and sustainability

PULLING down the National Stadium entails the obliteration of 3,000 concrete foundation piles averaging 25m deep and a superstructure amounting to 2,500 tonnes of steel reinforcement and 300,000 bags of cement. It will be the largest single building to be demolished to date.

Costly, time-consuming and laborious, the energy-and-resource guzzling cycles of demolition and construction will generate many cubic tons of non-recyclable waste and prolonged pollution. The environmental cost, coupled with immeasurable social impact, comes in exchange for a Sports Hub with a mere 25-year lease.

Reasons have been given for the stadium's demolition, such as maintenance costs, structural settlement and outdated facilities, but none are matters that cannot be resolved with current technology.

The 1933 Stadio Olimpico in Turin was restored and upgraded for the 2006 Winter Olympics. In Rome, the 1960 Palazetto dello Sport was lovingly conserved, while the Citta della Musica and Museum of Art for the XXI Century, by world-renowned architects Renzo Piano and Zaha Hadid respectively, add to the revitalisation of the former Olympic Village.

Mr Othman Wok, the former minister of social affairs who saw the National Stadium through to its completion in the 1970s, said when interviewed in 2005: 'I hope the new generation understands that this country was built through blood, sweat and tears.'

New memories may yet be forged with a new Sports Hub, but no amount of National Education can replace the lessons of history embodied in a concrete landmark from a historic - and heroic - era.

The writer is a researcher and writer on architectural and urban history currently pursuing postgraduate studies in Italy.

Will the stadium still stay open?

Some of mine from last week's and today's trip.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1399/869723496_76859b7e57.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1424/869723428_fc63d0842b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1334/869723558_c826f8af74.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1137/869743828_c4ea9deea4.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1005/870055924_3fbf56b1c5.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1165/938054413_e35ef90cc5.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1022/938054647_40e6d305a9.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1156/938054715_4b4412cc3b.jpg

Some of mine from last week's and today's trip.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1399/869723496_76859b7e57.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1424/869723428_fc63d0842b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1334/869723558_c826f8af74.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1137/869743828_c4ea9deea4.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1005/870055924_3fbf56b1c5.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1165/938054413_e35ef90cc5.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1022/938054647_40e6d305a9.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1156/938054715_4b4412cc3b.jpg

still can be visited ?:cheers:

@Kit

Nice series of pictures. :)

I just shot there last week... it'll be open til end of the year

^^ thanks for the info :D!

I just shot there last week... it'll be open til end of the year

i suppose the winner of the new sport hub would be responsible for the demolition as well?