ArtScience Museum

ArtScience Museum is the lotus-shaped museum on the waterfront promontory of Marina Bay Sands, in Singapore's Downtown Core, designed by Moshe Safdie and opened in February 2011. The building is modelled on a lotus in full bloom: each of its curved, petal-like fronds holds a different gallery, and skylights at the tips bring daylight down the curved walls. Inside, 21 gallery spaces add up to about 5,000 square metres, used for exhibitions where art meets science, technology and design.

The museum has no single fixed display for a first-time visitor to follow, since its programme is built around changing exhibitions, so check the official site to see what is showing before you go. Galleries run from the basement levels, which can be partitioned into different spaces, up to Level 4, which holds the 66-seat ArtScience Cinema and a virtual reality gallery. The museum sits at 6 Bayfront Avenue, a short walk along the waterfront from the Marina Bay Sands hotel towers and The Shoppes, and Bayfront MRT station is the nearest stop. Seen from Merlion Park across the bay, its white petals face the water, and many visitors pair a gallery visit with an evening walk around the bay to the Merlion and the Esplanade.