Designed by William Lim Associates, one of the distinguishing features of the postmodern building is the mural cladding called the "Texturefulness of Life", the largest piece of installation art in Singapore.

[1] In March 1995, the People's Association (PA) announced plans to spend S$9.56 million to upgrade 54 community centres and clubs that were over ten years old, adding facilities such as lifts, dance studios, karaoke rooms and multi-purpose air-conditioned activities rooms, to make community centres more user-friendly, with open concept offices and reception areas.

[2] In June 1995, then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong asked PA to study the idea of having community centres share their premises with other civil users such as libraries, government offices and commercial developments.

[4][8] Opened on 6 March 2000, the Marine Parade Community Club is equipped with a glass-walled gymnasium overlooking part of the East Coast Parkway, a covered basketball court on the rooftop and an air-conditioned sports hall.

The NAC spent S$2.1 million on construction costs for the unit at Marine Parade, which includes a foyer and the 120-seat Black Box.

The building was designed by a local architectural firm, William Lim Associates, which adopted a postmodern pluralist approach, expressed through a multiplicity of materials and forms.

[13][12][14] The community building is clad in a huge wall mural, a commissioned work of art by Thai architect Surachai Yeamsiri.

The artwork's centrepiece resembles a huge human eye plastered on a wall, made up of tiny mosaic tiles arranged by computer-aided design.

[4][15] Surachai's abstract piece was the winner in the "Art on Wall" design competition, organised by the Marine Parade Community Club Management Committee in 1998.

Led by local art historian T. K. Sabapathy, the panel felt that the winning entry best reflected the contest's themes of dynamism, interaction, fusion and harmony.