Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay, stands in Singapore's Downtown Core near the mouth of the Singapore River and was officially opened on 12 October 2002 by President S. R. Nathan. It grew out of a 1989 report by the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts, which noted a lack of suitable performance venues. The building was designed by DP Architects of Singapore and Michael Wilford & Partners of London: two rounded glass shells shaded by more than 7,000 triangular aluminium sunshades, which earned it the nickname The Durian. Beneath them are a concert hall seating about 1,600, with a Klais organ of 4,740 pipes, and a horseshoe-shaped theatre seating about 2,000. There are also two studio spaces and, since 2022, the 611-seat Singtel Waterfront Theatre. Around 3,500 performances and activities take place each year.