The South Beach — Singapore, Singapore
It’s difficult to imagine that long before it bristled with high-rises and high-density developments, Singapore’s Beach Road was exactly that – a bucolic, breezy strip fronting the sea.
Soaring land prices and reclaimed land have put paid to all that. The newest kid on the block, just down the road from the still regal Raffles Hotel, is the massive South Beach mixed-use development that one Lord Norman Foster and Aedas have built around the heritage-listed buildings and officers’ club of a former army base.
This being Singapore, the jewel in the crown is the 654-room hotel. The interiors are courtesy of Philippe Starck whose DNA of white furniture, silvery Ghost Chairs, and acres of mirrors is writ large in every nook. Clearly, no expense has been spared, a fact seen to best effect with his 11,520-light ceiling installation in the grand ballroom and in the dazzling expanses of the Chairman and Presidential Suites with their gasping panorama of Marina Bay’s skyscrapers.
It’s all the more reason to enjoy the less charged moments from the aerie of two sky-gardens, each with its infinity pool. The women’s only guest-floor is a genuinely thoughtful touch that does much to redeem the hotel’s odd insistence on describing itself as a H.I.P hotel for 'Highly Individualised People and Places'.
ADDRESS
30 Beach Road
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
Don’t Move, Improve 2024: London’s bold, bright and boutique home renovations
Don’t Move, Improve 2024 reveals its shortlist, with 16 home designs competing for the top spot, to be announced in May
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Perfumer H has bottled the scent of dandelions blowing in the wind
Perfumer H has debuted a new fragrance for spring, called Dandelion. Lyn Harris tells Wallpaper* about the process of its creation
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
The best fashion moments at Milan Design Week 2024
Scarlett Conlon discovers the moments fashion met design at Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2024, as Loewe, Hermès, Bottega Veneta, Prada and more staged intriguing presentations and launches across the city
By Scarlett Conlon Published
-
AIR is a new OMA-designed Singapore restaurant and cooking club
AIR is a Singapore restaurant, circular campus, and cooking club, designed by OMA and inspired by a ferverous approach to innovation, sustainability and food
By Daven Wu Published
-
Eastern and Western flavours meet at Jiak Kim House in Singapore
Jiak Kim House, led by Chef Seow Tzi Qin, pays a heartfelt tribute to Singapore's vibrant history through traditional and contemporary dishes
By Daven Wu Published
-
The Singapore Edition makes the case for opulence
The new Singapore Edition, the work of Moshe Safdie and local studio DP Architects, with interiors by Cap Atelier, embraces leafy luxury
By Daven Wu Published
-
Restaurant Araya is Singapore’s first South-American fine dining odyssey
Araya sees chefs Francisco Araya and Fernanda Guerrero celebrate their native Chilean South Pacific cuisine heritage
By Daven Wu Published
-
Artyzen celebrates tenth anniversary with grand openings in Shanghai and Singapore
Artyzen New Bund 31 Shanghai and Artyzen Singapore are the luxury hospitality group's latest state-of-the-art offerings
By Daven Wu Published
-
Mandarin Oriental Singapore emerges from a six-month overhaul
The newly refurbished Mandarin Oriental Singapore slots into the city’s skyline with a look inspired by the tropics
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Suzuki by Kengo Kuma in Singapore serves up sushi in a garden
Suzuki by Kengo Kuma launches at the Mondrian hotel in Singapore, serving sushi in a Japanese garden setting
By Daven Wu Published
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico
By Chadner Navarro Published