Shopping in Singapore
Singapore offers great shopping opportunities. The city is very modern, has many malls and stores of major international chains. The biggest brands in the world are present in the city and sometimes have super luxurious stores. The prices of the products, however, may not be so incredible, so it is always important to see if that much desired gift is really worth it if it is purchased abroad. One thing is certain: In Singapore, you can find fast fashion to the renowned brands!
The Orchard Road is a place to not lose sight of. There are several malls along this route, so you can find everything from designer stores to the most popular ones. It is a place where you can find a little bit of everything and is a must for anyone who wants to shop. Among the main shopping malls in the region are ION Orchard and Paragon. Check abbreviationfinder.org for abbreviations and acronyms related to Singapore.
Some of the malls have several floors (including in the basement) and certain floors have more exclusive stores, while other floors have more popular stores, so check the mall map to find out where that store you want to go to is found. Another tip is that some subway stations usually have a good trade around them, in the very basement.
Another very cool mall to visit, which is huge and quite different, is Shoppes by Marina Bay Sands – it is a refined shopping center, with some of the most sophisticated stores on the market, but it is worth striking even though the goal is not to shop. The mall is very nicely decorated and has canals reminiscent of those in Venice – anyone who wants can hire a boatman to take a gondola ride through the canals of the place.
Chinatown is ideal for buying products with cheap prices and finding some travel souvenirs. In Little India, the must-see place for shopping is the Mustafa Center, a 24-hour shopping center, with several floors, many products from India and many other places in the world.
The Living City, which can be known on the way to Sentosa is also a nice mall for shopping.
Tip: The tax charged for products does not always appear on the value of the labels, so be aware that the final amount of the 7% tax will be added to the final value of your purchase. This tax can be repaid with the TAX Refund procedure (when the purchase price in an establishment exceeds S $ 100). See more information about the tax refund for purchases made in Singapore.
ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING
An emblematic model of rapid urbanization, Singapore has conquered the role of modern metropolis in just 40years. Systematic demolitions and reconstructions have marked this process, and took place in the absence of particular references to the context, landscape and history. It was a general phenomenon, which embraced all aspects of a multi-ethnic society in which political events had evident consequences on the architectural heritage. In contrast to the pushes towards globalization, the search for a specific national identity, as an officially recognized objective, has nevertheless constituted another focal point in the development policies of the city. If in fact, on the one hand, a highly de-historicized building production has been promoted and marked by the aspiration to westernization, which manifests itself in a skyline in which the skyscrapers designed by famous international architects stand out (almost always in collaboration with studios of Singapore), on the other hand the focus was on the enhancement of pseudo-historicist icons such as the Merlion (1964-1972), the sculpture considered the symbol of the city, or on the redevelopment of areas such as those of Mohamed Sultan Road, Geylang and Katong, where the Malaysian, Indonesian and Arab communities continue to keep the traditional atmosphere alive. To relaunch its new international image, Singapore made massive investments, often resorting to the capital of multinationals.
At the heart of the city’s rebirth is, since the early nineties of the twentieth century., Marina Bay, artificial bay divided in half by the estuary of the Singapore River, covering an area of 360 ha and is the main booming business towards the sea.
The northern part of the river, Marina Center, under construction since 1992, houses, among other things: Esplanade-Theaters on the Bay (by the English studio Michael Wilford & Partners and DP Architects, 1992-2002); Singapore Flyer, a spectacular Ferris wheel (by the Japanese K. Kurokawa and DP Architects, 2005-2008); Suntec City and Millenia Walk (both by DP Architects, 1994-1997); Ritz-Carlton Millenia (by the American firm Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo & Associates, 1992-1996).
The Marina South sector, under construction since 2001, includes in particular: One Marina Boulevard (by DP Architects, 2001-2004); One Raffles Quay (by the American studio Kohn Pedersen Fox & Associates and by Architects 61, 2003-2006); The Sail (by the American studio Peter Pran and Team Design, 2005-2009); Marina Bay Financial Center (by Kohn Pedersen Fox & Associates and DCA Architects, 2006-2010); Marina Bay Sands (from the US firm Moshe Safdie & Associates, 2006-2009), a gigantic complex consisting of two theaters, an open-air amphitheater, a museum, a shopping center, a hotel and a casino. The construction of this latter complex, whose building typology is defined as Integrated Resort , was authorized only in April 2005 by the government, which, after a series of debates and demonstrations that resulted in the legalization of gambling, entrusted it the concession to the US company Las Vegas Sands Corp.
The two parts of the bay will be connected by the Double Helix Bridge (by the Australian firm Cox Richardson & Taylor and Architects 61, 2006-2009) and by the Common Services Tunnel (2005-2009).
Other significant contributions to Singapore’s architectural image are: the Nanyang Polytechnic university campus (by the US firm Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, 1992-1999); the Camden Medical Center (by the American R. Meiere of DP Architects, 1991-1999); the Expo station (1997-2000) of the MRT ( Mass Rapid Transit , the local underground network) and the Supreme Court (2000-2005), both of the English N. Foster, flanked by CPG Consultants and PWD Consultants for the first, and by PWD Consultants for the second; the New National Library (by the Malaysian studio TR Hamzah & Yeang, 1998-2004); the Republic Polytechnic (by the Japanese F. Maki and DP Architects, 2002-2007).
S.’s image will undergo further, decisive changes with the Redevelopment Plans of the building fabric around the important commercial thoroughfare Orchard Road; with the expansion project for the One-North area, won by Angloirachena Z. Hadid (2001), within which, in the urban sector called Fusionpolis, Kurokawa is responsible for the Technopolis Eco-Tec City project (2002- 2008); and with the project for the architectural arrangement of the Duxton Plain, won in 2002 by ARC Studio Architecture and RSP Architects Planners-Engineers.