Architects invited to compete to build new National Art Gallery

A unique opportunity is being offered to architects around the world to conceptualise the new National Art Gallery in Singapore.

The Singapore Ministry for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) has launched an Architectural Design Competition for local and international architects to develop the best design concept for the new National Art Gallery.

The Art Gallery, to be housed in two iconic heritage buildings in Singapore's Civic District, City Hall and the former Supreme Court building, is scheduled to be completed around 2012.

It is envisioned to be dedicated to the presentation, collection and study of Southeast Asian and Singaporean visual arts, and the examination of how the art of this region connects with developments in the rest of the international art world. Southeast Asian art makes up two-thirds of Singapore's national collection of some 7,500 pieces of artworks.

Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister-of-State for Information Communications and the Arts and Foreign Affairs, who also chairs the Steering Committee for the National Art Gallery, said: "A new National Art Gallery is timely at this juncture in Singapore's transformation to become a global city of the arts. This architectural competition is just the first step, towards building a national institution that will be owned and valued by the community, and one in which all Singaporeans will be proud of."

Since 1992, both buildings have been gazetted as national monuments, and are subject to preservation guidelines under the authority of the Preservation of Monuments Board. They were vacated in 2005, and have since been used occasionally, for example, in 2006 as one of the exhibition venues for the Singapore Biennale 2006 and as a registration centre for delegates of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meetings.

About the competition

The architectural competition, organised by MICA in association with the Singapore Institute of Architects, will be conducted in two stages.

The first stage, an open ideas competition, will look for initial design ideas, and be judged on design philosophy and task appreciation. Entries at Stage I are kept anonymous and competitors' identities will be revealed to the jury after they have been short-listed for the second stage.

Short-listed competitors will move to Stage II, a design development competition, where they will be asked to develop their initial concepts and demonstrate the workability of their proposals against a budget. At the end of the two-stage competition, the jury will select not more than three winners, where one winner may be commissioned in end 2007 to design and build the National Art Gallery.