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Jean-Michel Gathy’S Firm, Denniston, Is Behind the Formidable St Regis Lhasa in Tibet

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Jean-Michel Gathy’S Firm, Denniston, Is Behind the Formidable St Regis Lhasa in Tibet LUXURY WITHOUT COMPROMISE 9 772315 gifts that Issue 85. SGD8.90 485001 keep on giving > A curated edit of the best that money can – and cannot – buy 12/2019 robbreport.com.sg The Resource | TR AVEL The Dream Weavers These designers have helped radically change the way we spend quality time away from home, says Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop. French-Belgian architect Jean-Michel Gathy’s firm, Denniston, is behind the formidable St Regis Lhasa in Tibet. STAYING IN A luxurious hotel is about so much our current diverse lifestyles and luxury destinations more than the thread count of sheets or the view from that have much more ‘personality’ – think bespoke the pool. Today it is about embracing an exotic heritage pieces instead of cookie-cutter furnishings. or enjoying the sense of place a new location offers. Our five celebrated designers have worked for some While 20 years ago, luxury hotels were primarily of the most luxurious hospitality brands, each bringing designed based on functionality, design has moved their unique flair to create memorable spaces that toward more ‘thoughtful’ accommodation, adapting to leave a lasting impression. 122 DECEMBER 2019 The Resource | TR AVEL Jean-Michel Gathy The Romantic Gathy incorporated Zen elements and natural materials into the design of Amanyara, Turks & Caicos. Every time Jean-Michel Gathy travels, which is soul will probably be intimacy, you will need to play almost every week, he sends flowers to his wife. The with what you have, such as lighting and colours. As renowned architect and interior designer readily for (a location in) the mountains, it will all be in the acknowledges romance is his “biggest weakness”. But materials. For the countryside, the view towards the what he sees as a flaw is for many a quality that he river or horses will be considered romantic. Every has applied with flair to his designs for luxury hotels venue requires different approaches in order to be and resorts around the world. Whether it is in the given a soul.” wraparound outdoor decks with netted hammocks suspended over water or the outdoor showers, Gathy has put romance at the heart of his design. “To me, romance is not in an object; having a chandelier over the table is not romance, that is decor. Romance is an emotion which you feel in accordance with your physical and psychological environment. It is what surrounds you,” muses the Kuala Lumpur-based, Belgium designer, adding: “I design lifestyles. I do not design hotels.” Gathy starts every project with hand-drawn sketches and images. “What comes out from your hand is what comes out from your heart. Eventually, that is where the soul for every project comes from. That is what romance is all about, something that touches your heart.” Gathy believes the soul of the property is key, adding its expression will depend on the location. “For PHOTOGRAPHY: RALF TOOTEN, MICHAEL WEBER. example, when you design a hotel in Singapore, the Jean-Michel Gathy. ROBB REPORT 123 The Resource | TR AVEL Bill Bensley The Storyteller Shinta Mani Wild was born when world-renowned designer Bensley decided to save an unprotected, 350-hectare wildlife corridor from poaching, mining and logging. Where Bill Bensley goes, others follow. The waterfalls to the landing zone bar as a unique way to designer has been credited with redefining the luxury enter the camp. hotel resort experience in Southeast Asia. His Four Even after designing more than 200 hotels and Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle in Thailand resorts around the world, Bensley is still brimming (2006), an all-inclusive jungle camp, launched the with ideas. The Bangkok-based designer is working trend for luxurious tented camps and was voted the on creating a new travel experience in a UNESCO- number one hotel in the world three years in a row by protected wilderness park near Guangzhou where Condé Nast Traveler’s readers. guests will stay a minimum of three nights: the first While in the early part of his career, Bensley saw over an estuary in a stilted water villa, then travelling hotels as theatrical stages to transport guests into a on a luxury houseboat with a butler and a cook to world of exotic luxury, he’s now very much focused arrive at a refurbished Ming Dynasty village with on creating memorable experiences while courtyard houses where guests spend the third and championing sustainability. “My wheelhouse is remaining nights. He is currently working on upcycling migrating from architecture to the designing of railway carriages for the new Hill Station, Khao Yai, experiences... and they tend to be those that I would Nakhonratchasima in Thailand, which he believes love to do myself,” he says. could be “the next big fad after tents”. Take the recent Bensley Collection – Shinta Mani “I live by the simple idea that if it’s not fun then Wild, a luxurious 15-tent camp deep in the Cambodian don’t do it. Instinctively I am the very curious sort that rainforest designed as a place of exploration and wants to stay hungry and young,” he muses, adding he learning, that includes opportunities to join Wildlife finds inspiration in his rich travel experiences, from Alliance rangers on anti-poaching patrols. Showcasing swimming with pink porpoises and piranhas in the his usual playfulness, the designer has added a 380m Amazon to running after herds of yak on the Russian- zip line through the forest canopy and over a river and Mongolian border or dancing with the natives in Fiji. 124 DECEMBER 2019 Shinta Mani Wild’s tents are perched over rivers and waterfalls. “I live by the simple idea that if it’s not fun then don’t do it.” Left: Shinta Mani Wild. Right: Bill Bensley. ROBB REPORT 125 The Resource | TR AVEL Chan Soo Khian The Choreographer SCDA’s work strives for tranquillity and calmness qualified by space, light and structural order. Be it in Bali, Sanya or the Maldives, Chan Soo the preservation of corals, which helped the resort Khian strives to capture the essence of a location in clinch the Maldives’ first Green Globe certification for his architectural designs while carefully respecting Building, Planning and Design Standard in 2005. More the environment and local culture. With interior recently, Soori Bali, which he manages and owns, was courtyards and sliding glazed doors connecting living also designed with sustainability in mind. The resort spaces to lush gardens, his clean-line designs blur the is constructed with locally sourced materials, such as distinction between interior and exterior with his Paras Kelating, a light grey volcanic stone, that help it hotels exuding a cool, modern feel. blend in with its surroundings. “Engaging the elements and an integrated design “A hotel needs to relate to the demands of its approach has always been key. Beyond that, I’m programme, the site and its cultural references. More interested in choreographing spaces to be experienced so if it is a resort hotel. I look to the historical or sequentially to give a sense of tranquillity for the vernacular references for architecture; and for interior guest,” the Singapore-based architect explains. design I often look at the traditional craft and material Chan and SCDA Architects, the architectural palette of its indigenous art,” he says. Yet he manages firm he founded in 1995, rose to pre-eminence with this with a modern twist, describing his designs as “not distinctive, understated reinterpretations of traditional stylistically Asian”. tropical architecture. Chan says he is “interested in vernacular and In recent years, the architect has also been a strong classical architecture that emphasises formal order proponent of sustainable design, trying to minimise the and well-defined outdoor spaces”. He says: “There environmental footprint of his buildings while striving are many lessons that can be derived from the spatial to make them greener. vocabulary of traditional architecture: craft, spatial For example, the construction method he designed order, hierarchy and scale. In the end it is about what to support sea villas at Park Hyatt Maldives ensured touches the human experience.” 126 DECEMBER 2019 The Resource | TR AVEL Left: the lobby of Soori High Line. Right: Chan Soo Khian. Below: spaces are characterised by lush gardens, water courts and air wells, effecting a sensuous engagement with the elements. “There are many lessons that can be derived from the spatial vocabulary of traditional architecture: craft, spatial order, hierarchy and scale.” ROBB REPORT 127 The Resource | TR AVEL Andre Fu The Zen Master Fu describes The St. Regis Hong Kong as a “curated mansion” intended to be a luxurious home away from home. It’s been 10 years since Andre Fu formulated Fu believes it is critical to incorporate a sense of his relaxed luxury ethos for The Upper House, the place as he believes a hotel is a key window to the boutique urban hotel much lauded for its serene world surrounding guests. Take for example his design contemporary atmosphere in the middle of bustling for Waldorf Astoria Bangkok, which opened in 2018. Hong Kong. Since then the interior designer has It came from his reflection on many artisanal aspects created a range of luxurious hotels that often of Thai culture, which he juxtaposed against art deco incorporate his elegant Zen-approach with heritage motifs inspired by the original Waldorf Astoria New stories arching back to the elegance of a bygone area – York to evoke the quintessential Waldorf Astoria think The Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore, Waldorf experience. Astoria in Bangkok, and The St Regis. in Hong Kong. In a perfect, but fortuitous, timing to celebrate the In these last 10 years, luxury hospitality tastes have 10-year anniversary of his first hotel in Hong Kong, evolved tremendously, remarks Fu, adding: “I recall Fu has just opened K11 Artus, which aims to reshape when a five-star property in Asia would typically have the serviced apartment experience with a mix of over 300 rooms and multiple dining venues, complete retro-modernist furnishing, subtle oriental decorative with chandeliers and ornate carpets.
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