Esplanade

this morning heard this over the radio.
the question that the deejay gave was this:
the infamous building in Singapore, Esplanade on the bay was designed based on what structure?
well, many locals would say that it was based on durian. coz it really looked like a durian shell opened into half. and they called the Esplanade as "the Durian"!
but no, the answer was incorrect.
some also answered that it was based on fly's eye. also looked like one. but nope. not the right answer.
the correct answer was MICROPHONE!
haha.. i couldn't guess it either.
but the design based on microphone sounds more appropriate for the concert hall. after all, it was an art and music place. and it really does look like a microphone structure, except without the stand or the handle.
and i have searched over the internet and there was a pdf file talking about the structure and the design of the building.
the spikes of the building was based on the geometry of the siever. cool. architects had this idea of geometry as well.
and the material that they used had some energy efficient material. bla bla bla... and they have applied some civil engineering technical stuff to support the building. bla bla bla.
well couldn't read all coz it's quite long.
the points is, amazingly not everybody know what the structure was based on. many really thought it was based on durian, since durian is the king of fruits. when i first saw the building, my senior introduced to me as "the durian" also. so, can't blame the locals for not knowing it. :p