The National Museum of Singapore

[Charging Bull]

SINGAPORE: The Paul Revere Bell has returned home to the National Museum of Singapore after being on loan to the Embassy of United States for 9 years.

With a handshake, the Paul Revere Bell will soon make its journey home.

It stood at the main lobby of the embassy here while the museum closed its doors for refurbishment.

The bell was given to Singapore more than 150 years ago by Maria Revere Balestier who was the daughter of the famous American revolutionary war patriot Paul Revere.

She was also the wife of the first US Consul in Singapore.

The bell will be displayed in the museum's new Singapore History Gallery when it reopens later this year.

The National Museum of Singapore will reopen in December 2006. - CNA /dt

[RafflesCity]

Originally Posted by babystan03

Hmmm.....I wonder where to spot it from above.....

I saw it from the Singapore Balloon.

The museum, the colonial building on Fort Canning & the Istana sparkle like jewels

[RafflesCity]

An overview, showing the new extensions behind

[babystan03]

The glass dome will be superb for my wide lens..... Hopefully they dun ban photography......

[RafflesCity]

Take from outside?

I'm sure its allowed...in the non-exhibition areas....there is a cafe I think...or I might be mixed up with the Library

[babystan03]

Originally Posted by RafflesCity

Take from outside?

I'm sure its allowed...in the non-exhibition areas....there is a cafe I think...or I might be mixed up with the Library

Hmm...ok......that'll be nice.....

[JoSin]

Hopefully some singapore writer will write something about singapore museum like the Da Vinci Code?

[RafflesCity]

Another view....it just looks so inviting!

I think they removed part of the former boundary wall to make it more 'open'

[rark]

omg thats really nice. they've done a very good job with the restoration of the museum.

[RafflesCity]

thanks..I just cant wait for it to start receiving visitors....its been closed for a while already! I last stepped in there in 1991 so I'm keen to check it out again

[babystan03]

Wow....so nice....can't wait to take the dome with my wide lens.....

[redstone]

So grand!!!

But what's with the blocked out window at right?

[RafflesCity]

Museum's Botox treatment

29 Jul 06

The National Museum may be 119 years old, but she's getting a facelift and coming back in style



IT'S not quite who you imagine a 119-year-old grande dame would be consorting with: nude male mannequins.

But when Life! dropped by for a sneak peek at how the $117.9 million makeover of the venerable National Museum is proceeding, that's what we saw.

The square-jawed naked guys with their blank stares were being manhandled up to the museum's giant glass rotunda, which has been added to a new wing behind the museum's original historical building.

They are the 'supporting' cast for an exhibition of men's fashion, Stylo Mylo, which opens next Friday at the newly renovated museum.

The exhibition showcases over 40 outfits donated by style stalwarts here like celebrity hairstylist David Gan and journalist John de Souza.

Somehow, it's entirely fitting that the museum is now playing host to such a hip and happening event. Before the makeover - which started in 2003 - you could imagine the old lady lifting her skirts and turning away in horror. Now, with her sleek new look, she's probably cool to it all.

Standing under the rotunda, with its restored stained-glass panels, the project's principal architect, Mr Colin Wu of CPG Consultants, says: 'She's had Botox to remove her wrinkles.'

Actually, the public will only see her in all her full 'Botoxed' glory in December this year, when the made-over Madame is unveiled as Singapore's newest and largest museum.

Meanwhile, she is showing her new self in stages. For example, Singapore Film Festival offerings were screened in her new Gallery Theatre in April, and plays were staged there this month.

The renovations have been the special focus of design consultant Mok Wei Wei, who was appointed midway through the project in June 2004.

By then, the wheels of the three-year project had already been set in motion by the then Public Works Department (PWD), which was corporatised into CPG Corporation in 1999.

Some key design elements, such as the wide-open atrium between the old and new buildings, and the glass rotunda in the annexe mimicking the old dome, had already been decided - which Mr Mok and the team from his home-grown firm W Architects then improved upon.

Faced with time constraints, they had to modify designs and materials even after tenders were awarded and the contractors began working.

He revealed to Life! that one of the many things he spent sleepless nights worrying about was the special concrete floors of the new extension.

He felt that the grey granite flooring originally slated for the atrium looked 'too corporate' and should be changed to more unusual black concrete slabs. Happily, they were changed.

Another interesting tidbit that Life! uncovered is that museum visitors will have a multimedia 'companion'. Using wireless technology, it will be 'triggered' to start playing relevant audio and visual material whenever visitors enter certain zones.

But from hi-tech to the past: The museum's permanent exhibition in its history gallery will show multiple viewpoints of Singapore history presented alongside one another.

And the soon-to-be present: The museum's whole makeover was undertaken with the aim of reconnecting it with its park-life surroundings, comprising Bras Brasah Park in front and Fort Canning Park behind.

With retail outlets and restaurants taking up some of its 18,375sq m floor space, it is envisioned as a harmonious conduit for people who want to eat, shop and bask in culture.

Once within its walls, visitors move through the historical part of the building, under the grand dome, up a central flight of stairs, emerging into the clear light of a 22m-long, 11m-high glass passage which leads to a new, 10,000sq m annexe.

While the conserved building is centralised and formal, the new extension is all glass, metal and black concrete flooring; raw, industrial and minimalist.

Among its features are a basement gallery, and an 'education block' with classrooms for its outreach programmes.

Then there's the glass rotunda, in which - when completed - images and film can be projected on its 15m-high, cylindrical walls. So far, the plan includes commissioning video works from up-and-coming youngsters here to screen in it.

A ramp spirals down within, leading to an exhibition space holding Singapore treasures, such as 14th-century gold ornaments unearthed in nearby Fort Canning Hill in 1928.

Of the entire project, Mr Mok says: 'Although we are generally happy with the end result, I suppose it could've been better.'

He goes on to explain: 'This project does not have the advantage or privilege of happening on a clean slate. It really was an improvement of a certain plan or structure already set.'

In architectural circles, public feedback and competitions have been mooted as a more egalitarian way of deciding how important civic buildings should look.

However, so far, the redeveloped National Museum has largely escaped the vitriolic reactions which other architectural landmarks like the prickly-domed Esplanade arts centre and the new Supreme Court building have elicited.

This is perhaps testament to the designers' success in blending the new extension into the original structure.

Mr Mok, meanwhile, thinks that good design must be cultivated right from the start, rather than brought in at a later stage.

He says: 'We're talking about the knowledge economy: Design should happen in the right way. The time needed for conceptualisation, as well as developing that concept, is critical.

'In terms of future opportunities for public buildings, it's very important to set aside a proper time-frame for this process.'

By Clara Chow, ARTS CORRESPONDENT

[RafflesCity]

some trivia:

# Some of the excavated rock from Fort Canning Hill was used to create two sculptures commissioned from Cultural Medallion-winner Han Sai Por.

# The fish-scale tiles covering the outside of the original rotunda were made of zinc in Manchester, England, in the 19th century. There are over 3,000 pieces. Each row of tiles is shaped differently to match the dome's curves. To stop the original tiles from oxidising and eroding further, a zinc-titanium coat was applied.

# The glass rotunda in the annexe is made up of two drums - an outer one made of glass, which sheaths an inner one made of wire mesh. In the daytime, black-out curtains run the length of the inner drum, on which images are projected from 16 projectors. At night, the curtains are drawn, so that the projection is beamed out through the glass, across the city.

# The new wing is built partially on ground hollowed out from Fort Canning Hill. To prevent the earth from collapsing, a disphragm wall was built, extending 30m underground.

[ncon]

[redstone]

Regal!

[babystan03]

Some night pictures..
1.


2.

[redstone]

WAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RafflesCity]

It looks really majestic.....a symbol of the grandeur of British empire

[babystan03]

Originally Posted by RafflesCity

It looks really majestic.....a symbol of the grandeur of British empire

Yeah look very beautiful at night......