I’ve been to Marina Bay Sands (MBS) in Singapore a lot over the past few days – much to the annoyance I would imagine to those who have to suffer my Foursquare checkins.  Incidentally, when is Foursquare going to grow up?  What’s next with Foursquare? More on that another time perhaps.

I feel I’ve got to know MBS a lot better through our time together and, what was once, for me at least simply that fantastically iconic hotel structure with a casino over the road and some shops (bizarrely called ‘Shoppes’ )  now feels like a proper place – a sum that is far greater than it’s parts – an urban place if you like. 

And it will be an interesting time over the next few months and years as MBS acquaints itself with the rest of Singapore and with the millions of people out there it’s looking to attract.

The last couple of days celebrated MBS’s Grand Opening and, as Sheldon Adelson (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp) put it at Thursday’s press conference, it felt like 94th opening. 

In reality, this Grand Opening was to celebrate the completion and opening to the public of the last major component of this Integrated Resort – The ArtScience museum. We were all shown around the museum on a short tour with several of the curators, as well as also being invited to the first public performance of Wonder Full – a light, laser and water show that plays out in the bay in front of the resort.

The museum building contributes another iconic piece of architecture with it being described by some as a blooming lotus flower whilst, for others, it is an upturned hand – Singapore’s welcoming hand.  The structure gives each of the galleries a unique space, each full of natural light. When it rains, water flows into the centre of the ‘hand’ creating a centerpiece waterfall.

The museum’s architectural design is further explored inside with some of the focus looking to merge the disciplines of Art and Science with Moshe Safdie himself suggesting that we should not necessarily see the world through the lens of the left / right brain model.  He encourages us to see the two disciplines as far more merged. 

On the top two floors we are inspired to explore our Curiosity, Inspiration and Expression whilst the lower floors are homes to exhibitions that include Genghis Kahn and one focusing on the Spice Road.  Museum director Tom Zaller stressed the ever-changing nature of the museum – ‘The museum is never done’, he said.

The Wonder Full light, laser and water show will take place in front of the Resort twice nightly with three showings at the weekend.  Despite its cost of US$20M, we are promised a more intimate – a more emotion-evoking experience than comparable displays at Singapore’s other resort on Sentosa and others around the world.

I described MBS to Moshe Safdie when I met him as a ‘coming out party’ for Singapore – a phrase, he said, he liked. 

But what kind of party is it?

It is, perhaps, several parties all in one with guests welcomed by a number of different invitations.  I was introduced to Mr. Zaller, the museum director – a man full of passion and enthusiasm but a man largely ignored by the press at Thursday’s press conference. It was Mr Adelson who dominated proceedings, sweeping aside one journalist’s suggestion that The Sands Group had missed analyst expectations in Macau for Q4 2010.  He went on to describe how the MBS cost-recovery forecast has been revised from something around 5 years to more like 4. “MBS isn’t about catering to demand, it’s about creating the demand,” he said.  The message was loud and clear: don’t think that this is it for Singapore and the region.

Whilst the numbers are the billions of reasons why we have MBS in the first place, I’m tempted to attend Singapore’s ‘coming out party’ not in my business suit but more casually dressed as I might do on a weekend – a weekend when I might want to enjoy a visit to the museum, a spot of shopping and bite to eat.

There are also two theaters with Disney’s ‘Lion King’ taking up residence in a couple of weeks and one of England’s favorite sons from the 70’s – Elvis Costello – amongst some of the other early performers.

I’ve been to the gaming tables and whilst there’s no denying that, from a purely business perspective this is the beating heart, MBS is a destination over an above any of its constituent parts.

Mr Safdie told me earlier in the week that he wanted to achieve something far more than simply dropping another steel framed, blue glass air-conditioned box in Singapore – a box you might pick up in Dubai or New York.

I can assure you that, for this visitor at least, he’s achieved that in spades.