Photographic and printed material, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) headquarters building (1965–1967), Singapore 新加坡馬星航空公司總部大樓 （1965至1967年）影像及印刷資料

Malaysia-Singapore Airlines commissioned Architects Team 3 to design its headquarters on Singapore’s Shenton Way in 1966, one year after the merger that created the carrier. To negotiate the difference in scale between the eighteen-storey tower and its then low-density surroundings, the design incorporates a three-storey podium—a solution that the architects advocated for in spite of the urban planners’ proposal of a lower podium, and that was subsequently adopted as policy for the design of neighbouring commercial buildings. The project’s cast-in-place concrete construction, underground parking, and roof garden were similarly innovative.

The tower takes the form of three blocks stacked on a protruding central core with a sculpture garden. To regulate sun exposure, its east and west facades are blank concrete, while a carefully calibrated pattern of sunshades covers its north and south sides. Executives occupy the all-glass levels recessed between the blocks. The architects also specified the furniture and artwork used throughout the interior.

A few years after construction ended, in 1972, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines dissolved into two separate national carriers. Singapore Airlines remained in the building until 1994, when it was demolished to make way for a taller structure. The project marked the beginning of the development of Singapore’s business district in the Shenton Way area, and it is an early, optimistic example of design in tune with the city’s tropical climate and its economic and urban expansion.

This project was begun by the Malayan Architects Co-partnership and completed by Architects Team 3 in succession for the former firm. The series consists of photographs and slides showing the completed building and an article discussing new buildings in Singapore, specifically the Malaysia-Singapore Airlines headquarters.