Esplanade MRT station is an underground
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the
Circle line (CCL). Situated in
Downtown Core
The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, it is at the junction of
Bras Basah Road
Bras Basah Road () is a one-way road in Singapore in the planning areas of Museum and Downtown Core. The road starts at the junction of Orchard Road and Handy Road, at the ERP gantry towards the Central Business District, and ends at the junc ...
, Raffles Boulevard and
Nicoll Highway
Nicoll Highway (; ms, Lebuhraya Nicoll; ta, நிகோல் நெடுஞ்சாலை) is a major arterial road in Singapore which links the junctions of Guillemard Road, Sims Way and Mountbatten Road in Kallang to the junctions of Espl ...
. As the name suggests, the station serves the
Esplanade
An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...
, alongside various developments such as
War Memorial Park,
Suntec City Mall
Suntec City is a major mixed-use development located in Marina Centre, a subzone of the Downtown Core in Singapore, which combines a shopping mall, office buildings, and a Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, convention centre. Con ...
and the
Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre
The Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, often known simply as Suntec, is a convention centre located in the Central Area of Singapore. Located within Suntec City, it was opened on 30 August 1995, and has a total floorspace of . Th ...
. Esplanade station is linked to the nearby
City Hall station via an underground retail development
CityLink Mall
CityLink Mall () is Singapore's first underground mall, located within the One Raffles Link development at Marina Square. Opened on 1 July 2000, the underground mall connects City Hall and Esplanade on the Mass Rapid Transit, and to Suntec Cit ...
.
First announced as Convention Centre MRT station part of the Marina MRT line (MRL), it was later incorporated into Stage 1 of the CCL. The station was renamed to its present name through a public poll in 2005. Along with the other stations on Stages 1 and 2 of the CCL, the station opened on 17 April 2010. Esplanade station features an Art-in-Transit artwork ''A Piece of Ice-Clear Heart'' by Lim Mu Hue.
History
The station was first announced as Convention Centre station in November 1999 as part of the
Marina MRT line (MRL). The MRL consisted of six stations from
Dhoby Ghaut
Dhoby Ghaut () is a place in Singapore that often refers to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, a major interchange station on Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit network connecting the North-South Line, North East Line, and the Circle Line. As a place, D ...
to
Stadium stations. In 2001, the station became part of Circle Line (CCL) Stage 1 when the MRL was incorporated into the CCL.
On 7 August 2001. the
Land Transport Authority
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of the Government of Singapore.
History Incorporation of Land Transport Authority
Land Transport Authority (LTA) was established on 1 September 1995, f ...
(LTA) awarded Contract 825 for the design and construction of Convention Centre station and associated tunnels to a joint venture among Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Woh Hup Pte Ltd and NCC International AB.
The contract included the construction of the
Dhoby Ghaut
Dhoby Ghaut () is a place in Singapore that often refers to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, a major interchange station on Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit network connecting the North-South Line, North East Line, and the Circle Line. As a place, D ...
,
Bras Basah and
Promenade
An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...
stations.
During the station's construction, the arterial routes of Bras Basah Road and Nicoll Highway had to be diverted through more than 10 phases. Road diversions began from 4 August 2002 with the realignment of a stretch of Bras Basah Road and the shifting of Nicoll Highway into War Memorial Park. A pedestrian underpass linking One Raffles Link and Suntec City was closed from 20 January 2003. A sheltered linkway at One Raffles Link and a temporary pedestrian bridge was constructed to facilitate movement between City Hall and Suntec City.
To minimise the impact of noise and dust pollution on the surrounding developments, the station was constructed using the top-down method. Diaphragm walls were built to minimise ground movement. With the roof constructed first, construction could proceed under all weather conditions while allowing the early reinstatement of Bras Basah Road and War Memorial Park. From the end of 2007, the diverted roads were rerouted back to their original alignments.
On 30 April 2008, the underpass reopened to the public. The reopening was marked with a celebration as Suntec City Mall offered goodies and organised music and line dancing performances. The station opened on 17 April 2010 along with the stations on CCL Stages 1 and 2. Prior to its opening, passengers were offered a preview of the station during the CCL Discovery open house on 4 April 2010.
Station details
![CC3 Esplanade MRT platforms](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/CC3_Esplanade_MRT_platforms.jpg)
Esplanade station serves the Circle line and is between the Bras Basah and Promenade stations. The official station code is CC3.
Esplanade station is within walking distance to City Hall MRT station on the
North South and
East West lines,
linked to the station via CityLink Mall.
The station has provisions to allow it to interchange with a future MRT line.
As the name suggests, the station is located near Esplanade Theatres. Through a public poll to replace its working name "Convention Centre", "Esplanade" garnered more votes at 49% against "War Memorial" at 41%. The name was finalised on 7 July 2005.
In addition to the Esplanade, the three-level station is connected to the various developments surrounding the junction of Bras Basah Road, Raffles Boulevard and Nicoll Highway.
Surrounding cultural landmarks include War Memorial Park,
Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel is a British colonial-style luxury hotel in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singap ...
and the
Padang
Padang () is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. With a Census population of 1,015,000 as of 2022, it is the 16th most populous city in Indonesia and the most populous city on the west coast of Sumatra. Th ...
, while the station serves retail and commercial buildings such as
Marina Square
Marina Square is a shopping mall in Singapore which opened in the late 1980s. It is part of the first building complex built on the reclaimed land at Marina Centre, and was the largest shopping mall in the country at the time. The complex also hou ...
,
Raffles City Singapore
Raffles City is a large complex located in the Civic District within the Downtown Core of the city-state of Singapore. Occupying an entire city block bounded by Stamford Road, Beach Road, Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road, it houses two hot ...
,
Suntec Convention Centre
Suntec City is a major mixed-use development located in Marina Centre, a subzone of the Downtown Core in Singapore, which combines a shopping mall, office buildings, and a convention centre. Construction began on 18 January 1992 and was complet ...
, Suntec City Mall and
South Beach Tower
South Beach is a commercial and residential complex located on Beach Road, Singapore, Beach Road in the Downtown Core of Singapore. It is composed of a hotel tower managed by JW Marriott Hotels, an office tower, shops and residences. The projec ...
.
Public artwork
Commissioned as part of the Art-in-Transit (AiT) programme, a showcase that integrates public artwork in the MRT network, ''A Piece of Ice-Clear Heart'' by Lim Mu Hue is displayed at the station.
The mural consists of seven pieces of
woodblock prints
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...
featuring scenes of shadow puppetry and other performances that were popular during the early days of Singapore.
Depicting the origins of theatre, the work is inspired by the nearby Esplanade Theatres, to which the artwork pays homage. This work was Lim's last and largest commission before his death in 2008.
The work is a collage of Lim's early works
which includes ''Backstage Heroes'', ''Puppet Masters'' and ''Teochew Opera Singing''. Finding that his works on theatre to be relevant for the station, curator Karen Lim and the Art Review Panel commissioned him for this station, unaware that he has been diagnosed with cancer. Karen at the time hoped to bring more awareness to woodblock printing, as it is getting rarer in Singapore with fewer artists utilising it.
To reflect the multicultural influences on Singapore's performing arts, Lim produced another work, ''Wayang Kulit'', alongside ''Puppet Masters at Work''. The latter work was created to illustrate the link between theatre and wood art. Initially, Lim came up with only a few prints and sketches depicting the process of creating a woodblock print. Upon Karen's suggestion to produce more of his actual prints, Lim went on to experiment fusing his works with technology, revisiting and editing his old works to create a cohesive mural.
Due to limited time and his ailing health, his two latest works were digitally edited from the original cravings. Meanwhile, Lim travelled to China (accompanied by his two daughters) to observe puppet masters in action to accurately depict them in his work. Lim went on to finish his work, going through numerous revisions and refining certain details before passing on. His children continued to work with the LTA and the production team to put up the work. Resizing to a higher resolution from the original smaller prints, the work had to be digitally altered for it to fit on the slanted wall so that it does not look distorted when viewed from the ground.
References
Bibliography
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Esplanade MRT station
2010 establishments in Singapore
Downtown Core (Singapore)
Railway stations opened in 2010
Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations