The most Instagram-worthy skyscrapers in Singapore

With more than 2,500 rooms and suites, Marina Bay Sands claims to be the biggest hotel in Singapore. We believe them. The rooms offer views of the South China Sea or Marina Bay and the Singapore skyline, but let’s be honest: the Moshe Safdie-designed SkyPark is the real crowd puller. Sitting prettily atop the three hotel towers 200-metres high, the boat-shaped Sands SkyPark Observation Deck is one of a few places to get a bird's-eye view of the city.

Designed by Daniel Libeskind who also created the masterplan of the World Trade Center Memorial, Reflections @ Keppel Bay is a luxury waterfront residential complex. This glazed, futuristic masterpiece comes with a complete family of six distinctive curved glass towers, sitting pretty by the bay. The towers alternate between 24 and 41 storeys-high, with rooftop gardens that are connected to one another by elevated bridges. These rooftop gardens also offer the best panoramic views of Mount Faber and Sentosa. 

The former three-storey creative space that was home to artists and creative types may be demolished but in its place is a cooler, more interesting building. In a sea of grey buildings in the predominantly industrial area, The Mill stands out with its Art Deco style, complete with a gothic tower. And if the design looks a little familiar, that's because one of the towers of The Mill was designed by the same team who worked on the iconic Parkview Square in Bugis. The other tower – also in gothic style – is designed by an established architecture firm in Singapore who have designed landmarks like St Andrew's Cathedral and Goodwood Park Hotel. On the inside, The Mill remains to be a creative hub, counting a bespoke tailor and a couple of interior design firms as tenants. 

A stunning piece of architecture surrounded by foliage, the award-winning Marina One is an approximately 3.67-million-square-feet space that features two 34-storey residential towers, two 30-storey office towers, and a retail podium called the Heart. Beyond the lush greenery adjacent parks, the Heart also houses a myriad of shops and restaurants. Make your way up to the top to soak in the gorgeous aerial view of the ripple-like centre where each floor around it is shaped like a wave. Fun fact: Marina One was featured in the third season of Emmy-winning HBO sci-fi series Westworld.

Widely and fondly known as "the Gotham building" by locals, Parkview Square is an Art Deco monolith in a sea of buildings. The majestic exterior screams luxury with bronze, granite, and glass. Take a walk in the courtyard before entering the building and you'll find yourself acquainted with bronze effigies of Salvador Dalí, Mozart, Isaac Newton, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Shakespeare, Plato, Dante, Winston Churchill, and Albert Einstein. The ostentatiousness doesn't end there. Inside, the grandeur of Atlas Bar will be the first thing you notice. The bar is dedicated to gin, and stocks hundreds of rare or limited edition varieties within a three-storey-tall tower that dominates the space.

A stone's throw away from Parkview Square is this piece of art. Stroll down Beach Road, and you'll think your eyes are playing tricks on you. Depending on your angle of vision, the 37-storey, 150-metre skyscraper complex built in the early 1990s also doubles as an optical illusion. Both twin towers – named The Gateway East and The Gateway West – form trapezoidal shapes, which give the illusion of being "paper-thin" when viewed from certain angles.

Another architecture masterpiece in Bugis, the modern, honeycombed-pattern towers stand tall, starkly juxtaposed with the historic Kampong Gelam next door. Together, the two sculptural towers carved to form a circular space. Their curved façades flow with the delicate hexagonal textures, while their slender forms shelter the public spaces, adding geometrical goodness to the architecture. The tallest tower – which is entirely residential – stands at an impressive 186-metres, while the second is 170-metres tall and offers 39 floors of office space and rooms for the five-star Andaz hotel. There are also covered and open-air gardens, walkways, cafes and restaurants.

Towering skyscrapers are aplenty in the city, but there's none quite like The Pinnacle@Duxton. After all, it's the first condominium-inspired public housing of its kind. Its main attractions are the two sky gardens that connect all seven towers on the 26th and 50th stories; the former has a jogging track and is exclusive to residents, while the latter is open to the public for a $5 entrance fee. As with Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers, only a limited number of outsiders a day are allowed to enter.

It's no surprise that the 70-storey waterfront mixed-use development takes inspiration from the wind, water and sun, given its location by the Marina Bay. It's designed as two glass-clad towers that rise – and split as if by water – from a sculpted base. You can also say that the curved edges mirror a sail, which isn't an uncommon sight in Marina Bay. The two towers house 1,111 residences, restaurants, a health club, recreation decks with pools and tennis courts, as well as parking facilities.

Love it or hate it, The Interlace is a mind-boggling, if not fascinating sight in the Alexandra neighbourhood. Resembling Jenga blocks, the condominium features 31 six-storey blocks irregularly stacked on each other. The spaces between each block are then used for the condo amenities like lush roof gardens, swimming pools, tennis courts and courtyards.