VivoCity on Your First Visit: What It Felt Like in 2006

The three bits everyone remembers

The fountain plaza where kids ran straight through the jets in whatever they were wearing, and the parents who clearly had not planned for it.

The rooftop, where the water play and the open deck felt like being outdoors on top of a shopping centre, which nothing else in Singapore did at the time.

The boardwalk out to the water, which is really why the trip felt like an outing and not an errand. You went for the mall and ended up looking at Sentosa.

These days the same rooftop is where the seasonal installations go, like the Sanrio Moonlit Garden that ran this year.

The facts, because they are actually good

Developed by Mapletree at a cost of about S$417 million, designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, and named from the word vivacity.

1,500,000 sq ft of gross floor area, roughly 1,077,000 sq ft of it retail. It has held the largest mall title since the day it opened, which is almost twenty years now.

Toyo Ito's design is the reason for the wave shaped fronts and the curved openings you never really notice until someone points them out.

Going now

HarbourFront MRT puts you inside it. The rooftop is still the best part and most visitors never go up.

Weekends are heavy because of the Sentosa crowd moving through. If you want the version in your memory, go on a weekday morning and start at the top instead of the ground floor. We put it near the top of our south Singapore mall ratings for a reason.

FAQs

When did VivoCity open?

1 December 2006. It was developed by Mapletree at a cost of about S$417 million and designed by architect Toyo Ito.

Is VivoCity still the largest mall in Singapore?

Yes. It has about 1.5 million sq ft of gross floor area and roughly 1.08 million sq ft of retail space.

What is on the VivoCity rooftop?

The Sky Park deck and water play area, and it is where the mall runs its big seasonal installations.