In the 1980s, new buildings were added to the civic district area located near the north bank of the Singapore River as part of the government’s urban renewal plans for the city centre. The most prominent structure to be erected during this period was the Raffles City (left background) office, shopping and hotel complex. Built on a site bounded by Bras Basah, Beach, Stamford and North Bridge Roads, Raffles City was officially opened in October 1986. The complex was designed by renowned architect I. M. Pei and comprised of the Raffles City Shopping Centre, the Raffles City Convention Centre, the 42-storey Raffles City Office Tower, the 28-storey twin-towers housing the Westin Plaza hotel, and the 73-storey tower occupied by the Westin Stamford, which was then the tallest hotel in the world.Marina Square (right background) was a shopping, hotel and recreational complex built on land reclaimed from the sea next to the Esplanade waterfront. Originally called Marina Centre after the tract of reclaimed land it was situated on, the complex was opened in several stages with a final grand opening held in January 1988. The shopping mall segment of the complex had Japan’s Tokyu and Singapore’s Metro department stores as anchor tenants while the hotel buildings were occupied by the Marina Mandarin, Pan Pacific Singapore and Oriental Singapore hotels. In 2004, the Marina Square Shopping Mall underwent a $100 million refurbishment that saw the addition of more retail space. The revamped mall was reopened in 2006 with a new look that included glass facades and larger skylights designed to brighten up the interiors.
