Singapore Conference Hall | |
---|---|
Former names | Dewan Persidangan Singapura dan Rumah Kesatuan Sekerja (Malay) |
General information | |
Status | Completed |
Architectural style | Modernist architecture |
Location | Shenton Way, Downtown Core, Singapore |
Address | 7 Shenton Way, Singapore 068810 |
Coordinates | 1°16′34″N 103°50′56″E / 1.276208°N 103.848943°E |
Groundbreaking | August 8, 1962 |
Completed | September 1965 |
Opening | October 15, 1965 |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 5 |
Designations | National monument |
Designated | 27 December 2010[1][2] |
Reference no. | 62 |
The Singapore Conference Hall (abbreviation: SCH), formerly the Singapore Conference Hall and Trade Union House, is a multipurpose building in Shenton Way, Singapore. Designed in modernist style, the SCH is five stories tall and capped with a cantilevered V-shaped roof. The SCH houses the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO); the concert hall has a capacity of 831 people. It was the first post-colonial building to be gazetted as a national monument in Singapore.
The SCH was initially constructed to house the various trade unions in Singapore as part of a 1959 election promise by the People's Action Party. The building design by the Malayan Architects Co-Partnership was selected through a competition held by the government in 1962. Completed in October 1965, the SCH hosted various conferences and exhibitions in addition to being the headquarters of the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC).
After the NTUC expanded and moved out of the SCH, the building was renovated and repurposed to be the SCO's permanent home, and the SCH reopened in 2001. The SCH continues to host other events, including the state funeral for former deputy prime minister Goh Keng Swee in 2010. Another renovation took place in 2017, restoring two staircases demolished in the 2001 renovation, and the SCH reopened on 26 January 2018.