The Contract 825 for the design and construction of Bras Basah station and associated tunnels was awarded to Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Pte Ltd and a joint venture with Woh Hup and NCC at a sum of S$343.94 million on 19 December 2001. The contract also includes the construction of the Dhoby Ghaut, Esplanade and Promenade stations. To facilitate the construction, part of Bras Basah Road had to be temporarily realigned on 10 June 2002. On 15 March 2003, the junctions of Queen Street/Bras Basah Road and Waterloo Street/Bras Basah Road were temporarily closed and the service road adjacent to Oxford Hotel was converted into one-way road in the direction from Queen Street to Waterloo Street. In 2007, the diverted roads have been reinstated as the station undergoes architectural, electrical and mechanical works. The station opened on 17April2010 as part of Stages 1 and 2 of the CCL.
Station details
Etymology
The name Bras Basah means "wet rice" in Malay – beras means harvested rice with husk removed, and basah means wet. Before the station was built, it was named Museum. Later on in 2005, it was renamed to Bras Basah, as the name is well-known and reflects the area's heritage.
Architecture
The station is below ground and was the deepest station from its opening, as the line has to cross underneath the East West Line beneath Victoria Street to reach the station. It is also the station with the longest escalator, at which stretches from the ticket concourse to the transfer level and takes approximately one minute to travel. The station design by WOHA resolves two conditions needed for the station: allowing a visual connection to the exterior to enhance the travel experience for the commuters, and enabling the station to blend into the landscape in the historic district and park location. A reflection pool, which also acts as the station roof, allows skylight to enter the station, and functions as a landscape element on the surface. With skylight entering the station, minimal artificial light is required for the station during the day. The natural light allows improvement in way-finding and safety for the commuters. The ventilation shafts of the station also blended into the landscape, avoiding any blocking of view lines across the site to the surrounding civic buildings. The station design was commissioned through the Marina Line Architectural Design Competition jointly organised by the Land Transport Authority and the Singapore Institute of Architects. At the 2001 SIA Awards, the SIA awarded LTA the prize for ‘Excellence in Architectural Design Competitions’. In 2009, the station was awarded the "Best Transport Building" at the World Architecture Festival, on the basis that the design gives "precedence to the surrounding, historically important, colonial structures, creating a piazza-like urban space to the station underneath" and noted the design's functionality to allow natural light into the station. The station later won the Award for International Architecture at the AIA's 2010 National Architecture Awards. In addition, it won the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and International Architecture Awards in 2011.
Public artwork
A video work The Amazing Neverending Underwater Adventures! by Tan Kai Syng was commissioned as part of the Art-in-Transit programme at the station. In the video, the protagonist, Desyphus, a “Perpetual Commuter”, goes on a quest on board the Circle Line, in which she battles "Life’s Big Quirks, Ecstasies and Agonies" along the way. The video also visits sites familiar to commuters, creates smaller tales which adds to the stories of the Bras Basah area. The video is projected on the wall below the station’s roof takes commuters through themes of travel, time, memory and the train line.
