The station is near landmarks such as The Istana, the MacDonald House, Plaza Singapura and Dhoby Ghaut Green.

To construct the North East line platforms, which were completed in 2003, the Stamford Canal had to be diverted while excavating through part of Mount Sophia.

[12][13] Before construction began, tenants of Amber Mansions[note 1] were compelled to relocate; the land had already been marked for acquisition in 1978.

[15] Contract 106 for the design and construction of Dhoby Ghaut NSL station was awarded to a joint venture between French contractor Campenon-Bernard and Singapore Piling and Civil Engineering Company Limited.

[16][17] Due to the soft marine clay at the station site,[18] jet grouting was used to stabilise the soil.

[19] In January 1985, the soft soil led to a tunnel cave-in, which formed a six-metre (20 ft) wide hole near Cathay Cinema.

[25] To help people to become more familiar with the system, the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRTC) organised an open house at the station on 6 December 1987.

[26] Train services commenced on 12 December when the line extension to Outram Park station was officially completed.

[29][note 2] In September 2000, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) installed lifts to allow barrier-free access to the station.

An eight-meter (26 ft) high sheet pile wall, restrained with ground anchors, supported the unaffected parts of the hill.

[41] Another construction difficulty was the irregular shapes and varying sizes of the station's five levels bound by space constraints.

[39] This made it difficult to install the site's temporary retaining walls because of the many voids in between the station levels.

It is underneath retail and commercial developments such as Plaza Singapura shopping mall and The Atrium@Orchard office complex.

[61] When it opened, it had the station code of N1[62] before being changed to the current alphanumeric style in August 2001 as a part of a system-wide campaign to cater to the expanding MRT System.

[4][70] The NEL platforms, constructed 28 metres (92 ft) below ground at Basement 5,[4] were the deepest on the network[71] until 2010 when Bras Basah station on the CCL opened.

[37][4][67] The station also has retail shops collectively part of Staytion Lifestyle Centre,[74] previously SMRT's Dhoby Ghaut XChange.

[67][78] The station architecture received an "honourable mention" at the Singapore Institute of Architects Design Awards in 2003.

The NSL station, initially without accessible facilities, has been upgraded to include lifts, ramps and dedicated toilets for the disabled.

[83] The mobile sculpture Lantern of Music by Tan Ping Chiang is suspended from the ceiling in the NSL concourse.

[88] The station's role as an interchange between the lines, its layout and the cultural history of Singapore inspired the artwork, which was the first major collaborative work between the couple.

[88] The artists fused these elements to create modern art "expressed in a marriage of languages"[88] while remaining sensitive to tradition and environment.

[91] Another artwork, Universal Language by Sun Yu-Li, consists of 180‑floor tiles with various motifs distributed across the station.

These tiles, accompanied by 14 glass plates positioned at various places in the station, act as wayfinding icons and guide commuters through the complex interchange via six different routes.

[86] These symbols lead to a large floor mosaic and a glass mural displayed at the centre of the station at Basement 2.

[87][92] The artwork, which reflects Sun's background as an architect, was created to address the station's complex layout.

[94] The CCL station features a wall relief, Man and Environment by Baet Yeok Kuan.

These sculptures depict unusual textures the artist captured in the station's vicinity alongside impressions of rocks and plants.

[99][100] This work by Lui Honfay and Yasmine Chan, along with Rain, was selected through the International Art Seats Design Competition in 2006.

[99] Matrix consists of a series of benches engraved with the station name in a dot-matrix style on the seat surface.