Pan Pacific and Conrad Hotel

I sat at the indoor cafe and looked through the window without wearing my sun glasses for the first time even it appeared to be very hot outdoor.

Sketching Pan Pacific Hotel on the right brought back fond memories. My office was involved in the Marina Square Master Planning in my first job as a junior and young architect in 1979. Pan Pacific Hotel together with Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Marina Mandarin Hotel were the first three hotels at Marina Centre designed by John Portman widely known for popularizing hotels and office buildings with multi-storied interior atria. I remember I saw John Portman briefly at the office boardroom and admired the large and detailed models at that time. I heard his sketches done on the spot were kept by the bosses and they were probably no where to be traced by now.

Within a short span of over 30 years, Marina Square at Marina Centre is now fully developed with so many new hotels and mega malls sprouting out here and there, Portman's hotels still stand timeless and modern in this cluttered world of new buildings.

On the left is the relatively newer luxurious Conrad Hotel designed by another famous American architect, Philip Johnson. Far left is Millenia Tower by Kevin Roche, Pritzker Prize winner. All such luxurious and expensive buildings.