Critics say that Singapore needs to shift faster from building cheap but resource-intensive concrete structures towards more expensive construction techniques that use, say, more steel and glass.

Even under construction, the museum is impressive: a soaring structure of concrete and glass, wrapped around a large wooden form like the hull of an upturned ship.

This abstraction is also translated into the construction of the project reflecting its simplicity through four materials that make up the entire assembly: Metal, concrete, wood and glass.