Singapore’s most famous landmark is undergoing an $8 billion expansion

The skyline-defining Marina Bay Sands is getting a fourth tower and new 15,000-seat entertainment venue. But its architect was given a clear brief: Don’t mess with an icon.

With three 650-foot-tall skyscrapers connected across the top by a boat-like skybridge — and an Instagram-famous infinity pool — Marina Bay Sands has given Singapore one of Asia’s most recognizable skylines since opening in 2011. So, when the resort’s original architect was invited to design a new, fourth tower for the site, his brief from the country’s government was clear: Don’t mess with a national symbol. “The (Urban Redevelopment) Authority repeatedly said, ‘This is our icon; our people of Singapore love this, and we cannot do anything that’s going to compromise it,” said Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, referencing the country’s urban planning agency. “And that was very much on our minds, as well: How to make something that has its own identity but is very complementary.” The 87-year-old said he only entertained the idea of extending the complex’s soaring skybridge to meet the fourth tower “for a few minutes.” Instead, his new 55-floor skyscraper, which broke ground on Tuesday, sits apart from its famous neighbors on an adjacent plot of land. Connecting the towers would have “really compromised the existing scheme and spanning across just seemed unwise,” Safdie said, comparing his new high-rise to the dot of an exclamation point. “It would be just more of the same, whereas we really wanted to create something.” The $8-billion expansion plan is a testament to the commercial success of Marina Bay Sands, which contains a hotel, mall, convention center and one of only two licensed casinos in the southeast Asian city-state. The US hospitality giant behind the resort, Las Vegas Sands, said the property attracted 38 million visitors and 2.19 billion Singapore dollars ($1.7 billion) in business spending last year alone.