A new Bali house peeks through the Indonesian island's rich, tropical foliage, nestled in the woods between open rice fields and Mount Agung. The project, titled Rumah Harumi, is the brainchild of locally based practice Earth Lines Architects, a studio firmly engaged with – and committed to – the region's craft traditions.

Inside Rumah Harumi, a subtly striking new Bali house

The house is the main home of a small family, who were after a base that feels natural to its environment – something soft and cocooning, a refuge. The mandate resonated with the studio, which always champions local construction methods and artisans as well as a meaningful connection with place and local lifestyle. The result is a residential design made predominantly of wood, and celebrating creativity and collaboration between its many craftspeople and contributors.

'The making of Rumah Harumi brought together an extraordinary community of Indonesian artisans – master woodworkers, stone carvers, ceramicists, furniture makers and artists – whose skills shaped every surface and detail. The result is a home that celebrates Bali’s deep tradition of craftsmanship and its intimate relationship with natural materials,' the architecture team writes.

Adding an important sustainability twist to the design journey, the teak and ulin wood used in the project was all reclaimed from old structures, bridges, and abandoned dwellings on the island. Coming, as a result, in irregular sizes and shapes, the timber elements used for the construction were meticulously catalogued and appropriately applied to the building installation.

Another aspect that nods to Rumah Harumi's sustainable architecture credentials is the interiors' connection to nature. Large openings and plenty of al fresco spaces, including indoor/outdoor areas that form transitions and adapt to changing needs and weather, ensured the residents can be in constant dialogue with their immediate natural environment. Meanwhile, bespoke timber louvres across the largest openings maintain privacy and control sunlight when necessary.

'The process was as much about patience and collaboration as it was about design: a journey of problem-solving, creativity, and kindness. The finished house carries that spirit – it feels soulful, joyful, and deeply connected to the energy and appreciation of its owners,' the architects write in conclusion. 'Here, daily life unfolds in close connection with nature and one another – it's a calm, tactile refuge that feels both timeless and alive, like it always belonged, an interior and architecture that will age gracefully over time.'

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Set high on a hilltop in Uluwatu, this 350 sq m Bali retreat with stunning views of the Indian Ocean is architect Alexis Dornier’s most personal project to date. Named Lebar, after the Indonesian word for ‘wide’, the light-filled horizontal volume is Dornier’s own island home, designed to complement the lush landscape but also to reflect some of his earliest influences.

Explore Alexis Dornier's personal Bali retreat

Based in Bali since 2013, where he founded his namesake architecture and design studio, Dornier is actually from Munich, and it is the city’s rows of postwar bungalows and midcentury modernist architecture vocabulary that have inspired Lebar’s ‘quiet clarity’, golden window frames and timber-clad walls.

‘These elements feel more like oversized pieces of furniture than architectural surfaces,’ writes Dornier, who has also produced a lighting collection featuring handmade Japanese paper infused with banana fibres.

‘The roofline tilts modestly, almost deferentially, to the horizon,’ Dornier continues of his retreat, completed in 2024 and featuring landscaping by the Bali Landscape Company. ‘Its low-slung roof and linear plan stretch deliberately across the crest of the site, framing uninterrupted 360-degree views while remaining visually recessive in the landscape.’

Dornier has earned a reputation for his impactful designs, ranging from a treetop boutique hotel to a sculptural spiral house in the jungle. ‘Crafted with a meticulous attention to detail that makes spaces functional and deeply meaningful’, each is a cohesive statement that encompasses not just the architecture but also the interiors, furniture and artwork.

This sense of coherence and continuity is apparent at Lebar, where Dornier designed every element of the interior, from the sculptural sofas, entirely custom-made furniture and brass pendant rings to the eclectic assortment of rugs and art. The colour palette features contrasting deep reds and velvet greens, ‘evoking a tension between bourgeois refinement and laid-back insouciance,’ he writes.

Befitting its tropical location, the residence is designed for indoor-outdoor living: sliding glass walls open to let the ocean breeze not just in the open-plan living room but also in the cosy, wood panelling bedrooms and study, while the entire ground floor is surrounded by a narrow sheltered balcony/walkway.

‘I didn’t want this house to scream “Bali”,’ Dornier notes. ‘The local is there, but in details and textures – not in clichés.’

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Immersive design, craft and architecture event Jia Curated returns to Bali Festival Park from 14-18 August. The 2025 edition has almost doubled in size, with some 70 ‘displays’ and over 200 participating brands from Indonesia, the rest of Asia, and beyond. This year’s theme is ‘evolving perspectives’ exploring how shifting perspectives can create new avenues for creative practice.

Jia Curated was launched in 2022 and grew out of a venture founded in 2020 by Budiman Ong, Rudi Winata and Yang Yang Hartono called Jia Collective, a retail space in Canggu, in south-eastern Bali, that eventually grew into a platform with dozens of brands centred around the concept of home (Jia in Chinese). In 2022 they launched Jia Curated in a bid to do something bigger 'that wasn’t too corporate, or dry,' explains Ong. 'For us it's about creating an experience, telling stories and getting to the core of who the brands and designers are.'

One of the event’s unifying principles is an Indonesian term called Gotong Royong, which means ‘communal effort’. It harks back to a time when people came together to help each other out in villages across Indonesia during the harvest season explains Ong. 'You can still see this spirit and sense of community in Bali, and more widely in Asia.' What this means at Jia Curated is that brands, designers, manufacturers and social enterprises often show together in one space and even make, design or create it together. 'The idea is that we are connecting people and building a design ecosystem that continues to grow after the event,' says Ong.

The venue for Jia Curated, for the second year running, is a section of an abandoned nine-hectare former theme park dotted with half-crumbling buildings featuring Balinese-style carvings and covered in graffiti. 'Because it’s been abandoned for more than 20 years it’s overgrown with bushes, trees and roots and has a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe!' says Ong with a smile.

Craftsmanship and innovation are important watchwords for the event, he continues, and the emphasis is on fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Indonesia’s artisanal heritage among local and international audiences. 'I think more and more people understand the value of craftsmanship and one-of-a-kind items or products with stories,' says Ong. 'We are at a very exciting point in terms of design in Indonesia, where there are a lot of manufacturers and a lot of young and talented creatives graduating from Indonesian design schools, but I don't believe the two are joining together in an ideal way yet. That is what we're trying to achieve so that people associate Indonesia with excellent manufacturing capabilities as well as incredible design talent.'

Jia Curated: designers, brands and collaborations to look out for

Lana Daya

Indonesian home textiles label and studio Lana Daya was founded by Clarissa Nilistiani and Theresya Tan in 2020. The pair work with artisan weavers in Java, Indonesia’s most populous island, and are inspired by the exploration of new materials and forgotten traditions. At Jia Curated 2025, they are collaborating with interior architecture studio Thufeil.

Du’Anyam

Social enterprise Du’Anyam empowers and improves the livelihoods of over 1,600 women artisans in rural villages in Eastern Indonesia who have been wicker weavers for generations, transforming humble palmyra leaves into sophisticated contemporary pieces. The company regularly collaborates with designers, hotels and retailers. At Jia Curated, they are presenting pieces alongside established furniture brands such as Lumikasa and Sekata Living (see below).

Citizen of Nowhere

Another project giving traditional crafts a bold and seductive new lease of life comes to Jia Curated from Thailand. Founded by designer and artist Saran Yen Panya, Citizen of Nowhere, which is also a showroom and a tearoom in Bangkok, collaborates with non-profits to create limited edition collections that celebrate the underrated creative talents of craft communities across the country.

Ong Cen Kuang

Bali-based lighting atelier Ong Cen Kuang, launched by Jia Curated co-founder Budiman Ong back in 2008, crafts innovative pieces out of sumptuous materials that are allowed to shine. The brand now debuts Jamur, a new collection of lighting pendants made out of hammered copper and woven copper wire. Their 100sq m installation will also host Japanese dancer Jasmine Okubo in a site-specific choreography.

Studio Shikai

Every year free exhibition space is offered by Jia Curated to countries the event founders consider to have a lot of potential in terms of creativity and innovation. This year, designer Shi Kai Tseng, founder of Taipei-based Studio Shikai, is the guest curator of a Taiwan design showcase. Nine designers and brands from Taiwan, such as Messagingleaving, Zhēnzhēn Lab, Erco Lai, Yangshueiyuan, Atelier Yen-An, Tins Ground, Paper Object and Marc Lin are taking part.

Straft

Japanese craft duo Straft reinterpret age-old straw craft techniques for a contemporary sensibility and explore - in narrative form - the dialogue between people and nature. 'We invited Tamaki Ishii and Kazuma Yamagami to come and visit Bali earlier this year, and they discovered that Indonesia and Japan share a belief in the spirituality of the natural world,' said Ong. For Jia Curated, Straft created an installation (which is part of a wider art trail of six site-specific installations) named Garuda, after a mythical bird in Hindu mythology. Made out of bamboo that has been scorched to create a gradient effect; in daytime the piece appears grounded, while at night it takes on a floating quality, as if flying away.

More to discover

Elsewhere in the park Jakarta-based Sekata Living, who create bespoke wall coverings that fuse digital techniques and hand painting, will create immersive tableaux featuring wallpapers, ceramics and woven pieces and textured finishes.

Meanwhile, husband and wife duo, carpenter KalpaTaru and architect Conchita Blanco from Blanco Studio, will present ‘The Living Character of Teak’, an installation and exhibition exploring the materiality of wood, and internationally-known Indonesian furniture brand Balagi will bring its sumptuous handwoven rattan lifestyle pieces to the show.

Also showing is Italian architect and designer Pietro Franceschini, who will unveil Rotella, his first rattan furniture collection made in collaboration with Indonesian manufacturer CVP and crafted by local artisans. Both rigorous and playful, its coils were inspired by the iconic 90s Haribo liquorice wheel.

Tokyo-based For The Metal People, a collective attempting to revitalise the metalworking industry of the Tsubame-Sanjo region of Niigata in northern Japan, is showcasing a collection of sleek cutlery, knives pots and pans while Jakarta-based Alvin T, will exhibit handcrafted pieces from his latest collections.

Alvin T founder Alvin Tjitrowirjo is also one of the founders of the Millimeter Manifesto, a collective of nine leading Indonesian product designers that has collaborated with Bali-based designer makers CushCush and social initiative LagiLagi to create a series of so-called ‘Communal Objects’; modular and easy-to-assemble benches, high tables, pedestals and wayfinding systems that are scattered throughout the park during the festival. Part of Jia Curated’s new ‘Waste to Wonder’ initiative, the pieces were made out of discarded materials and design waste and put together with the help of university students during a series of workshops — a prime example of ‘Gotong Royong’.

Potato Head, Bali’s beach club and hotel turned cultural village, has always been a champion of creative cross-pollination. With a building by OMA and furniture collections by the likes of Faye Toogood and Andreu Carulla, it is clear that design is at the heart of the project. At Potato Head, however, it goes hand in hand with environmental responsibility. ‘When we started Potato Head, [one of our goals was] to be sustainable in a beautiful way,’ reads a note from founder Ronald Akili introducing the first sustainability report from the company. ‘We want to create awareness by inspiring instead of preaching. We want to provide experiences and products where people do not have to compromise on beauty, comfort, and accessibility in order to be sustainable.’

Being zero-waste and contributing to a process of local regeneration were similarly important to the founder, and its newly launched collection of objects by long-term collaborator Max Lamb acts as a manifesto of sorts for what Potato Head stands for, and what a model for sustainable manufacturing might look like in the future.

Max Lamb at Potato Head

Lamb has collaborated with Potato Head for a few years: his first visit in 2019 resulted in a series of in-room objects and furniture, circular designs all created in a closed-loop and produced locally by artisans and makers. ‘I was invited to design these products, the idea was that they should be made in Indonesia, as there is already a wealth of techniques and crafts,’ says Lamb. ‘So I spent two weeks travelling to different craftspeople, and what started as a small itinerary soon grew, as we kept discovering more places, from natural dye companies to ceramic producers, to stone workers who work with volcanic rock to traditionally make the small shrines you find in local homes.’

Lamb, whose practice focuses on making and experimenting (his furniture has been made from a plethora of materials, from cardboard boxes to his grandfather’s tree), was right at home in the rich cultural and artisanal panorama of Bali and its surroundings. ‘Before traveling there, I was learning about the local brick and clay industries, and that sparked a research into the geology of the island,’ he says. ‘I was interested in the Ring of Fire and Bali being a volcanic island, and how the rock formations and the general landscape are informed by its geology and the geothermal activity.’

During his visit, however, Lamb started looking at Bali as a place to produce his work. ‘I was trying to experience Bali as deeply as possible to understand what the production and craft and material opportunities were there,’ he explains. ‘But it was also necessarily a conversation between me as a designer and the hotel, to identify all product opportunities to serve the hotel’s guests.’

At the time, Potato Head was already championing a zero-waste model (having gone carbon neutral in 2017, the first hospitality company in Indonesia to do so), and the conversation soon shifted from craft to waste materials. ‘Being hospitality, there is a constant influx of people and products, food and beverages and packaging being generated, and Potato Head recognised this,’ explains Lamb. ‘So what do you do with these materials?’

One of the first products they created together was a chair, made from recycling 833 plastic bottles. Featuring a colourful marbled effect, the chair has inspired a series of small objects made using the same system, from coasters to trays, all with the distinctive multichromatic pattern.

The plastic is all recycled from delivery packaging and confiscated water bottles (guests are not allowed to enter the Potato Head premises with non-reusable plastics), granulated on-site, and heat-pressed into sheets that are then used to create Lamb’s products. ‘What is great is that they built a factory, but it’s not behind the scene, it’s front of house: you get your plastics confiscated, you see it go into the granulator, the heat press, the CNC machine,’ says Lamb. ‘It's a really great reaction to the uncontrollable amount of waste material being generated through running any hospitality establishment.’

99.5 per cent of Potato Head’s waste – including food – is currently recycled and put back into the hotel, with a minimal 0.5 per cent going to landfill.

Wasted Collection 001 by Max Lamb for Potato Head

This month marks the launch of Wasted, a new brand by Potato Head that Lamb describes as ‘an attitude and an ideology for turning waste into new objects for both hotel guests and the wider community of interested people.’

With products designed by Lamb (who is also currently managing the design process and serving as the brand’s creative director), Wasted is an embodiment of Potato Head’s sustainability mission.

The objects on offer form a panorama of craft in Bali, and the opportunities found in recycling. The eight collections include objects made from HDPE plastics, composted organic matter, recycled linens from the hotel and restaurants, broken and re-blown glass, cooking oil transformed into scented and refillable candles, recycled ceramics, oyster shells, and hand-woven Balinese bamboo.

A small collection of ceramic plates and bowls are made in Ubud by a small pottery, using Balinese clay and a glaze made from broken glass from the hotel’s waste stream.

From the offcuts of his HDPE plastic chair, he has created trays and coasters. This way of working by repurposing materials is second-nature to Lamb: thinking in terms of waste, using the negative to his production’s positive has often been the case with his work (and as a young designer starting out, that was a necessity to be economical with materials). ‘I very rarely speculate: I nearly always only make what people ask me to make,’ he adds. ‘I have a sense of responsibility in my practice, I recognise that it’s very difficult to be productive without being destructive. But I'm very lucky in that I have a hungry audience, wanting to consume my work and commission me to make pieces. And I think there's something very, convenient about the fact that I run a workshop-based design practice.’ This modus operandi is now feeding into his work for Potato Head.

The textile products are a good example of Lamb's thinking throughout this project. 'Hotel linens have a short lifespan, they get stains, they tear, and can't be put back on the beds,' he explains. The collection includes large bags, but also smaller textile objects dyed using marigolds (recovered from offerings left at shrines across Potato Head), like compact pouches, pencil cases and sunglasses cases, that can be obtained from smaller scraps. 'By having a range of different scaled objects or products, we're able to best utilize as much of that material as possible.'

Wasted by Potato Head: what's next

The future of this project for Potato Head is very much about collaboration, as the model for Wasted is meant to become an open-source blueprint for harvesting waste. 'It's not about exporting these products, but about exporting this idea of working,' explains Lamb.

'This is not meant to be good design,' he stresses, noting that an elaborate design would defy the purpose of the project. 'I don't want to just adorn or decorate for the sake of it. It's always about the material, and if the form can be as quiet and simple and functional as possible, then the thing that will really shine will be the material. And then that allows the story of Wasted to be told much more.

'It’s meant to be about using a resource that would otherwise be thrown away, and helping Potato Head deal with the waste they generate on a daily basis. And to set the cogs in motion for establishing a new culture.'

Nuanu Creative City sits across 44 hectares alongside a rugged coastline in Bali, Indonesia’s ‘island of the gods', between Nyanyi Beach and Tanah Lot Temple. The multi-project development, currently underway, is a creative complex that merges art, technology and nature in an ambitious amalgamation of one entrepreneur's bold vision.

Conceptualised as a future utopia, Nuanu Creative City is the brainchild of Russian tech businessman and multimillionaire Sergey Solonin. The self-dubbed ‘experiential park’ extends to education and wellness and aims to act as a case study for sustainable architecture living.

Explore the Nuanu Creative City development in Bali

Solonin, who relocated to Bali and initiated the project three years ago, has invested $100 million into Nuanu to date. Across the vast site where barren land and a wild jungle once stood, newly built interconnected pathways and streets now lead to AI-managed art, a boutique hotel, a beach club, a spa and wellness facility, a children’s education campus, sound-healing spaces, yoga studios, and an alpaca farm; there's even a recently opened butterfly breeding programme that aims to repopulate native species and increase local biodiversity.

Visually akin to the Burning Man project in Nevada, USA, Nuanu Creative City was conceived by Solonin to resonate with the famed music festival’s core values on sustainability and collaboration. The site currently boasts a recycled timber ‘lighthouse’ by architect Arthur Mamou Mani (the Tri Hita Karana Tower), bamboo architecture structures by Charlie Hearn of Inspiral Architects and Pablo Luna Designs, and artworks by Daniel Popper and Alexander Milov.

Nuanu, meaning ‘in the process’ in Balinese, currently features 32 completed, discrete spaces referred to as ‘projects’, in collaboration with individual business partners. Each project partner commits to contributing five per cent of their monthly revenue to Nuanu’s Social Fund, which is distributed to reforestation or social initiatives. With an additional 18 projects currently in progress, Solonin anticipates an eventual total of 50 diverse spaces where visitors and the creative community can gather.

‘Agility and flexibility are critical for a project like ours, which is not just about building structures but creating a living, breathing ecosystem where art, nature, and technology coexist harmoniously,’ says Solonin. ‘We adapt as we go, integrating new ideas and technologies while staying in tune with the needs of the community and environment, ensuring we respect Bali’s culture and ecosystem while welcoming global perspectives.’

Yet what sets the development apart from the over-tourism and overdevelopment currently plaguing the island is Solonin’s sustainability efforts and pledge to preserve two-thirds of the site’s natural landscape. Aurora Media Park, a 5,000 sq m outdoor immersive AI-powered art park, is found interwoven into an existing native jungle with decade-old clusters of wild bamboo.

At luxury hotel Oshom Bali, a series of treehouse guest rooms were designed above historic mangroves, leaving the latter undisturbed in their critical role as an integral waterway. For the design of Lumeira, Nuanu’s spa and wellness facility, co-owners James Larkin and Jasper Sceats took inspiration from traditional Balinese thatched structures, utilising bamboo and alang alang, a natural coarse grass known as a long-lasting roofing material. The entire spa is carbon-zero and operates on circular, renewable energy – the central wood-fired sauna features a pyrolysis stove that transfers excess heat to nearby pools.

In the next ten years, Solonin envisions Nuanu will ‘come to life as a vibrant global hub where creativity thrives, attracting some of the world’s most innovative minds to live, collaborate, and visit’, he says. ‘It will be home to a dynamic community of visionaries, artists, and change-makers, living and working in thoughtfully designed spaces that inspire creativity.’

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Umah Tsuki, the family home for Andrew Swallow, his wife, and their young daughter, sits perched above a verdant, sloping plot in the Balinese village of Tumbak Bayuh. The property is the first built project to be completed by Swallow – a former chef – who spent years devising the menus and interiors of his own restaurants in the US before choosing to fully pursue his interest in design.

‘Designing spaces has many similarities to cooking – you always begin with a blank canvas, then you start to know what you want the dish to taste like, feel like, and look like,’ he says. ‘It was time to change my palette from creating with food ingredients to building materials.’ The decision sparked a permanent move to Bali and the birth of Swallow’s own design studio, Colvin Haven (a coinage of his middle name, and his daughter’s first name).

Step inside Umah Tsuki by Colvin Haven

Much like Swallow’s culinary practice, which focused on farm-to-table cooking, the design of Umah Tsuki is all about provenance and locality: ‘From the beginning I wanted to use a minimal variety of materials native to Indonesia to keep the architecture pure and honest, revealing strength and simplicity,’ explains Swallow, who worked alongside Kevin Kudo-King from architecture firm Olson Kundig, Abbie Labrum of Earth Lines Architects and Nyoman Suryantara from Como Design Studio to realise the home. ‘I really wanted to create a sanctuary that would give you a sense of calm and peace the moment you set foot on the property.’

Made up of four stilted volumes, the exterior of the house is entirely clad with ulin wood, a robust type of timber that’s indigenous to Indonesia. Internal rooms are panelled with warm-hued teak, each piece hand-cut and laid by a team of expert local woodworkers. Dark grey paras stone, which is quarried in Bali, has been used to tile some of the home’s wet areas, while all the soft furnishings have been crafted by artisans based around the region.

Swallow’s penchant for Japan’s architecture can be seen in other elements of the home. The peaked form of the roof, for example, is inspired by the shape of traditional Japanese cabins, and shou sugi ban – a centuries-old Japanese charring technique that helps preserve and strengthen wood – has been applied to the facade. A large, winding koi pond has also been installed in the garden. ‘I have always loved the simplicity and functionality of Japanese architecture,’ Swallow adds, ‘they’re masters at using natural materials and minimal adornments.’

It was also imperative to Swallow that Umah Tsuki had a strong visual connection to the outdoors, unlike the hastily developed homes that he had seen spring up across Bali post-pandemic. ‘Bali is having a boom after COVID, because people are wanting to leave cities and live an alternative life, but there's no soul to [those houses], there are no gardens, just walls that shut you in… it’s like they could be built anywhere in the world.’

Open-air walkways have therefore been used to link the home’s different living quarters, and expansive windows have been fitted in every room to ensure the surrounding lush jungle remains in constant view. Even the wellness centre on the home’s ground floor (complete with cold bath, sauna and tea lounge) has been orientated to overlook a nearby river.

This nature-conscious sensibility will continue to inform the further six Tsuki residences that Colvin Haven plans to build going forward – number two is already underway. They will all be unique in design, but offer the same meditative feel as Swallow’s own home. ‘A home is not just a place to lay your head,’ he concludes, ‘it is a place to bring people together, to share experiences and to feel at peace.’

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Tri Hita Karana Tower (also known as THK Tower), a new hybrid AI art and architecture installation in Bali's Nuanu City, has just been completed. The centrepiece by London-based architect Arthur Mamou-Mani, features exhibition design by Delivered., a multimedia production company.

The design has been named 'after the philosophy of the Balinese people which symbolises harmony with the divine, between people, and nature', its authors explain. They add that 'the architectural wonder is the first and the largest permanent hybrid art-AI installation of its kind in the region'.

Tri Hita Karana Tower at Nuanu City in Bali

Reaching some 30m high, the rattan and ironwood tower can be explored by climbing its 108 steps in the heart of Nuanu, the island's 44-hectare, currently under-development, creative hub. A journey inside promises a playful experience, that offers, long, 360-degree views of the surroundings during daytime, and a projection mapping show in the nighttime.

Mamou-Mani says, 'THK is my first ever permanent installation in Asia. A key part of the process was understanding the life cycle of every strip of rattan and ulin, which is known as “ironwood” in English, that we reclaimed, as circularity was key to this project. Although it is a permanent landmark here in Nuanu City, it has been designed so that it can be disassembled, moved, evolved and broken down over time in a way that does not harm the environment, but instead celebrates it.'

The structure, which features Mamou-Mani's signature flowing forms and a captivating, dynamic sense of movement, was conceived to showcase how design and technology can work together in a cohesive, complementary fashion.

Anastasiia Filatova, co-founder and CEO at Delivered., says of the project's intricacy: 'There are over 1,000 light fixtures installed throughout the tower, with 18 projectors housed in 12 surrounding mini towers, alongside an in-built custom sound system and climate control box. This is brought to life in an 11-minute light and sound show, with the exhibition viewable from different points across Nuanu, [including] Luna Beach Club.'

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Over the last decade, Bali-based studio Ibuku, headed up by designer Elora Hardy, has become a leading expert in bamboo architecture, its output encompassing everything from a traditional Sumbanese house and a yoga and meditation space to playful treehouses and a riverside café at an eco-friendly jungle retreat in Ubud. In 2021, the studio completed The Arc sports hall at the Green School in Bali (founded by Elora’s father, designer John Hardy). Made from a series of arches spanning an impressive 19m, it was a pioneering feat of bamboo engineering.

Perhaps Ibuku’s most famous project is the Sharma Springs residence, which featured in an episode of the Apple TV series Home. Built around a central tower, its various levels pan out like the petals of a lotus flower. In addition to its structure, everything from the cabinets to the coat hangers was custom-made out of bamboo.

Inside this serene Bali villa

Without experiencing it firsthand, it is hard to believe that just one material can be so versatile. Elora Hardy founded Ibuku in 2010, after returning to Bali (where she grew up) from the US. It was born out of a love for bamboo and as a way to follow in the footsteps of her father, who had just completed the island’s Heart of School building almost entirely out of bamboo. ‘At the time, I was working in New York for Donna Karan, designing prints and getting more and more disillusioned with the fashion industry,’ says Elora. ‘I was amazed at what my father had been up to, and it just made sense that I should take over and continue working with bamboo.’

One of Ibuku’s more recent projects is Uma, a private residence, just outside Ubud, designed in collaboration with studio Earth Lines Architects. While bamboo is a vital part of the building, there are other materials present in this case, such as steel, local stone and even concrete, that give the building its own expression. Located on a former rice terrace, on a site measuring more than 10,000 sq m, the project incorporates several buildings, which, between them, house five bedrooms, eight bathrooms and an underground TV room, and there is also a pool and permaculture garden.

Embracing the island’s warm weather, the main building, which serves as a flowing 300 sq m dining/living area overlooking the lush, leafy environment, is kept fully open on one side. The structures containing bedrooms and offices offer more privacy, balanced with lots of floor-to-ceiling glazing to take in the surrounding nature.

Ibuku’s trademark bamboo is present throughout, from light fixtures to the poles used as formwork for the concrete walls. Most of the bespoke furniture is locally made. The grey palette of the ulin wood façade, terrazzo floor, local paras kerobokan stone and concrete walls match the ceiling’s dark hues, the petrified wood elements and bamboo screens, conjuring up a quietly refined interior. And the relatively monochrome approach makes the greenery of the surrounding rice fields and garden stand out further, creating a strikingly serene setting.

Through its innovative use of bamboo, Ibuku is not only redefining sustainable architecture, but also highlighting the extraordinary potential of this humble material. As the studio continues to push the boundaries of bamboo design, its work stands as a testament to the blend of traditional craftsmanship with contemporary vision.

ibuku.com

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This article appears in the October 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

Bali’s natural beauty has long captured the hearts and minds of many, with the Indonesian island being a sought-after travel destination for many years. From catching waves in Uluwatu to watching the sunset in a bustling beach bar in Canggu, Bali is a small island with much to offer. However, it’s in Ubud, a small town in the heart of the island, where Bambu Indah Resort has laid down its roots. Nestled into the surrounding rainforest, the boutique hotel melds into its context – crafted from bamboo, eleven antique Javanese bridal homes sit upon a cliff top looking down across the paddy fields.

Bambu Indah, Ubud

The resort was founded in 2005 by Canadian-American jewellery designer John Hardy and his wife, Cynthia Hardy. What began as a destination for friends and family to come and stay, eventually became available to the rest of the world in 2012. A captivating concept, the couple integrated treasures they collected during their travels, adding an antique charm to the bamboo architecture.

Embracing the importance of artisanship and locally made products, Hardy told Wallpaper*, ‘We were more than a jewellery business. We made everything and anything for a home, objects for life. This philosophy was brought into the resort; every lodge is a jewel: unique, handmade and different from the next one.

When people think about hotels, they often think about two-room possibilities; Bambu Indah is full of people moving around. It’s an experience and a joy to see how many different ways we found to build rooms and spaces for people.’

The environment, is really what gives Bambu Indah its wow-factor. Guests can dine and relax next to the river, bathing in one of the site's natural pools or cooling off under waterfalls. Connecting the recently-renovated upstairs restaurant, bar, pool area and vegetable garden is a series of bamboo bridges and walkways – a grounding stroll through nature that leaves the bustle of Ubud town, far behind you. A hand-dug bamboo elevator is a local feat of engineering that transports guests to dinner and beyond.

Bambu Indah, meaning beautiful bamboo in Indonesian, also offers sustainably-conscious dining with its Tembaga restaurant, with a menu focusing entirely on regenerative and adaptogenic food – including fragrant laksas, locally-sourced fish and a rotating salad menu – where everything is sustainably driven and designed to benefit your gut microbiome. Guests can take their breakfast or lunch, served in a bamboo pod, hoisted over the bubbling river.

With surrounding tamarind and Bayan trees garnished with flourishing cinnamon and palm, it is easy to understand why many travellers are drawn to this regenerative garden of Eden; what brought the designers to Bali 50 years ago. Hardy added: ‘I remembered when I arrived in Bali after a very long and rough road bus ride. The driver stopped at a bridge and made an offering to the spirits of the river for permission to pass.

This made us realise there was something else present in Bali that wasn’t in other places where we’ve been in our lives. Many places have islands, beaches, mountains, forests and also rice fields, but only one place has the Balinese, and that’s Bali. Many people say tourism spoils places; I feel like Bali spoils its tourists. It’s a conscious place, a different experience.’

Bambu Indah is located at Jl. Baung, Sayan, Kecamatan Ubud, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia, bambuindah.com

Bamboo architecture has been gaining momentum. The natural material is powerful and versatile – durable in various climatic conditions and featuring high tensile and compressive strength – and a fantastic tool for crafting sustainable architecture. It is a resource that grows quickly naturally, meaning it can be renewed easily, with minimum effort and energy consumption. At the same time, its bendy nature and malleable fabric can produce truly eye-catching designs with numerous applications.

Ibuku, headed by founder and creative director Elora Hardy, is a pioneer and global proponent of bamboo architecture. The Bali-based studio, a team of designers and architects, is dedicated to exploring innovation in its field, working with natural materials, of which bamboo is central, to build a variety of typologies – from homes to hotels, schools, and event spaces. We caught up with Hardy, who shared her tips and experience in working with the valuable natural material.

Explore bamboo architecture with Elora Hardy and Ibuku

Hardy recalls what attracted her to start working with the material: 'I was searching for a way to feel responsible as a designer and as a human, wondering how to choose materials with good impact and significance. Working in fashion [outside of Bali, where Hardy grew up] I became aware of the waste and toxicity built into our systems. In parallel, my father began designing buildings from bamboo in Bali. I realised that what I wanted to be part of was already happening within my own family, so I came home.'

'The more I get to know bamboo, [the more] I aspire to be like it – unique while growing alongside other individuals, [using] flexibility as a strategy to avoid breaking under pressure. In its original form as a pole, bamboo has beauty, strength and personality that shouldn't be over-designed; we must restrain our design instinct to control and shape it. And when turned into slats, it can dance with us, by being bent and curved into the forms of our imagination.'

Bamboo architecture benefits

There are several key benefits to working with the material, Hardy highlights: 'Abundance. Teaches flexibility. Brings personality, while being flexible.' It is a component that keeps surprising her, she admits, through its complexity and the way it challenges her and her team. 'I continue to realise how little I know and how much is possible,' she adds.

Ibuku architect Rita Santoso says: 'With bamboo and its natural colours and textures, it's like learning a new design language, with much more opportunities to reach new different levels of comfort while being close and connected to the luxurious nature.'

5 key properties of bamboo

• A renewable resource
  'It grows fast and is strong and beautiful. Bamboo is also an incredible resource for design. It has unique material properties which are an amazing resource not found in other materials. Though building with bamboo is not new, engineers, architects and designers like us are able to invest time and care in creating a new design vocabulary with bamboo because natural treatment methods have turned bamboo into a credible, long-lasting building material. The bespoke artisanal structures we create in Bali are creating a ripple effect of attention towards the possibilities of bamboo and have inspired innovations in other underutilised natural materials. Combining craftsmanship with technology is the recipe for a magical future.'
• A local material
  'For our projects, we usually use what is locally available, and we innovate systems and techniques by connecting engineering expertise with craftsmanship, to reinvent what is possible and practical for each place.'
• Durability
  'A bamboo pole has the potential to last hundreds of years within a structure. In nature, it lives for only around ten years. When a pole dies in nature, the carbon it has sequestered is released back into the eco-system. So there's something magical about this afterlife, where a pole’s contribution, participation, and even carbon sequestration can live on.'
• Versatility
  'I’m curious about how the thinking that bamboo has inspired in us can next be translated to be applicable outside of the jungle, beyond this one material, outside of the tropics. I see that what we have been doing, and how we have been thinking, can impact what people choose to use and make. I see this happening when I teach at Bamboo U [eco-architecture courses in Bali], where people think they are coming to learn about bamboo and leaving with so much more. I hope that it has a big, subtle ripple effect.'
• It's full of character
  'Bamboo is full of character, integrity, and individuality, far beyond being a simple wood replacement. From what was so long considered a humble material, we have extended bamboo’s range. From the essential to the precious, it's becoming a part of daily life for people around the world.'

6 tips for building with bamboo by Elora Hardy

• We have to change the core of our identities to work with bamboo, it contradicts much of what tends to be cultivated in the education and profession of architecture. Listen for natural intuition – bamboo works the way nature works, not the way you were trained to think. 
  
• We must be flexible, and tolerant of imprecision – these aren't 2x4s, each [pole is] a unique piece of nature; we must indicate ranges of tolerance, not just set requirements for each measurement, at each point. 
  
• Hike, don't try to drive. This is a new frontier, it's not all figured out, and the road is not paved. Notice what reality is, and be ready to reroute along the way; you'll likely end up encountering a more beautiful view. 
  
• Be cooperative, and collaborative – by listening to and learning from the craftsmen and builders. 
  
• Look out for our egos – we must make room for the material's personality.  
  
• Don't dream alone – align yourself with the strengths and vulnerabilities of each material and personality in the team; all are outliers. 

Bamboo architecture of note

Surajkund Craft’s Northeast Pavilion by atArchitecture, India

Commissioned for the 2023 Surajkund Craft Fair, the Northeast Pavilion is a striking bamboo cloud of a structure and the brainchild of Mumbai-based architecture studio atArchitecture, and its co-founders Neha Rane and Avneesh Tiwari. It is also the emerging studio’s very first completed, permanent building in India. The structure was conceived to celebrate the tradition of local bamboo construction in line with the festival’s overall focus – the annual fair promotes Indian handicrafts, providing a platform to artisans on its site in Faridabad near the historic human-made Surajkund Lake, which was commissioned by King Suraj Pal of the Tomar dynasty in the 10th century

Kempegowda International Airport by SOM, in collaboration with Enter Projects Asia, India

Kempegowda International Airport unveiled its Terminal 2 structure in 2023, a pioneering bamboo design by architecture studio SOM in collaboration with Enter Projects Asia, which created the interiors. Located in Bengaluru (BLR Airport), southern India, this significant piece of transport infrastructure services one of the country's largest cities – as well as its wider region. Aiming to create a facility that not only can handle the 25 million new visitors expected, but that is also rooted in nature and sustainable architecture, the new terminal is rich in interior planting, lush exterior gardens (its landscaped spaces designed in collaboration with Grant Associates and Abu Jani/Sandeep Khosla), and natural materials such as brick and bamboo. It is all conceived to uphold Bengaluru's reputation as the 'garden city'.

Bijoy Jain’s bamboo Mpavilion, Australia

From Sean Godsell’s openable box of surprises to Amanda Levete’s ethereal tree-inspired canopy, the MPavilion has steadily established itself as a key staple on Melbourne's architecture agenda, marking the start of the Australian summer. For the installation’s third edition in 2016, MPavilion founder Naomi Milgrom invited celebrated Indian architect Bijoy Jain to design his own version of the Queen Victoria Gardens folly. Heading acclaimed architecture practice Studio Mumbai, Jain has a strong following and solid reputation for top craftsmanship, elegant designs and collaborative work. His firm creates works of all scales from its western Indian base, where they employ artisans, specialist craftspeople, as well as architects and designers to bring a rounded, craft-based approach to their commissions.

ibuku.com

Beautiful swimming pools are a major draw for those hunting for their next vacation spot. This is something high-end hotels know all too well, bringing in expert architects to design aquatic marvels that reflect each property’s aesthetic and sit harmoniously in the surrounding environment. Amidst a plethora of stunning options around the world, we have put together some of our favourite outdoor hotel pools – jump in.

15 of the best outdoor hotel pools to book now

137 Pillars Suites Bangkok

137 Pillars House is one of Chiang Mai’s most awarded hotels; its city-slick sister, on the top eight floors of a sparkling skyscraper in Bangkok, follows suit. The brand’s 18th-century heritage is kept in rocking chairs on each of the 34 suites’ private balconies, the ground-level Bangkok Trading Post café, and the handsome Jack Bain’s bar named after one of the Company’s most distinguished managers. But this is a decidedly modern escape, with walk-in wardrobes and five-fixture marble bathrooms, a spa and wellness centre offering aerial yoga and Reiki classes. Not one but two sky-high infinity pools may feel far removed from the city, but a glass floor looks dizzyingly down to the private driving ranges on the sixth-floor terrace, cleverly linking the hotel to the world below.

137 Pillars Suites Bangkok is located at 59/1 Sukhumvit 39, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

7132 Hotel

Therme Vals was completed in 1996. Almost three decades on, Peter Zumthor’s genre-defining spa in the Swiss canton of Graubünden remains a place of pilgrimage for architecture enthusiasts the world over. Half buried in the hillside and constructed using local Valser quartzite slabs, the hotel itself was renamed 7132 Hotel under new ownership in 2012, and while the property continues to undergo changes and developments, the baths remain blissfully untouched, as ageless and enduring as the mountains around them. Carefully positioned gaps in
the ceiling and walls flood the hotel’s indoor pool with shafts of light. Upstairs, a grass-roofed outdoor
pool is complete with a sunbathing terrace.

7132 Hotel is located at Poststrasse 560, 7132 Vals, Switzerland

Amangiri

Tucked within a canyon in Utah, Amangiri’s pool could be a glimmering mirage in the heat of the dust. Fortunately, its beauty is not a figment of imagination, and the mesa-embracing pool echoes the tranquillity of the canyons. Born from the collaboration between award-winning architects Marwan Al-Sayed, Wendell Burnette, and Rick Joy, Amangiri sits low within the untouched red-rock desert landscape and is blissfully at one with its native context. Its water pavilion also offers a steam room, sauna, plunge pool and heated step pool to cool off under the western sun. The resort offers 34 contemporary suites and has a camp of 10 tented pavilions to act as a base for any mountainous expeditions.

Amangiri is located at 1 Kayenta Rd, Canyon Point, UT 84741, United States

Amankila

Amankila, which translates to ‘peaceful hill’ in Sanskrit and is extraordinarily situated on a dense hillside beneath sacred Mount Agung, has been the go-to spirit-lifting sanctuary in Eastern Bali since its opening in 1992. The resort’s distinct tiered infinity swimming pool, also the work of the late American architect and furniture designer Ed Tuttle, sees three pools cascading down to one another, akin to Bali’s terraced rice fields, that blend with the vast expanse of the blue horizon that awaits in front. The design takes inspiration from the nearby Taman Ujung water palace, which sees three large ponds connected by elegant bridges and pathways. Amankila’s large 41-meter turquoise-tiled lap pool is equally alluring, found at the sun-kissed private black-sand Beach Club and nestled amidst tall coconut palms and frangipani trees.

Amankila is located at Manggis, Karangasem Regency, Bali 80871, Indonesia

Cali Mykonos

Situated on the serene cliff front that embraces Kalafatis Beach, far away from the bustling Old Town nightlife, the whitewashed hotel Cali Mykonos draws immediate attention with its 130-metre infinity pool, which elegantly winds around to mimic a neighbouring stream’s curvature. Filled with solar-powered heating panels and fresh seawater drawn directly from the Aegean Sea, Cali’s aquatic tour-de-force furthers the hotel’s integration into the landscape – its water being equally crystalline as the private port’s below. The pool, like the hotel’s main building and villas, is the work of Athens-based architectural firm STFN Lab and combines traditional Cycladic architecture with natural landscape features. As such, it boasts natural marble and stone sourced from the original property excavation. Guests can enjoy the most natural swim alongside the pool bars, which boast mythology-inspired cocktail menus.

Cali Mykonos is located at Mykonos 846 00, Greece

Capella Ubud

Inspired by the first European settlers in Bali in the early 1800s, Capella Ubud remains true to the concept of a rainforest camp by providing 22 one-bedroom tents and a two-bedroom lodge nestled within lush forest terrain with traditional sloping rice terraces. Famed American landscape architect Bill Bensley, the creative force behind the project, ensured that no trees were cut during construction, preserving the camp as a secluded sanctuary boasting maximised jungle views. Despite each guest space featuring individual saltwater pools, Capella Ubud’s crown jewel is The Cistern, a vast amenity presenting a 360-degree panoramic view of the Keliki Valley. The pool, shaped like a rainwater reservoir, comprises marine-grade steel plates, which had to be transported manually to the site due to their 100-kilo weight.

Capella Ubud is located at Jl. RY Dalem, Keliki, Kec. Tegallalang, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80561, Indonesia

La Co(o)rniche

At La Co(o)rniche, the Atlantic does most of the talking. Philippe Starck’s 2010 renovation kept the bones of a 1930s neo-Basque hunting lodge – dark timber, frescoes, old Arcachon manners – then loosened it with cabins that borrow from Cap Ferret’s oyster huts. Set between pine forest, sand and the Dune du Pilat, the hotel’s pool frames the Arcachon basin, suspending guests between water and sky.

La Co(o)rniche is located at 46 Av. Louis Gaume, 33115 La Teste-de-Buch, France

Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo

At Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo, luxury comes with topography. Set within a 1,200-hectare private reserve on Mexico’s Pacific coast, the resort is arranged along jungle, cliffs and shorelines, with 157 rooms, three cascading infinity pools and an oceanfront golf course. Architects Victor Legorreta, Mauricio Rocha and Mario Schjetnan treated the land with discipline, placing architecture along the contours 300ft above the sea. In the spa, Oaxacan red clay, volcanic stone and a found boulder turn wellness into ritual.

Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo is located at La Huerta, K, México 200 Manzana 7.5, 48898 Barra de Navidad, Jal., Mexico

Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como

The ethereal beauty of Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como, has long been perceived as infinite, much like its recently introduced heated outdoor swimming pool and sun deck, which float over the lake’s cinematic southeast shores. Designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, the 40-meter pool elegantly sits against a lower vaulted stone colonnade, featuring a dark local Cardoso sandstone finish and prefabricated steel structure that reflects the water’s cobalt-blue surface. Here, the hotel’s casual dining venue, Nami Café, offers a laid-back poolside menu of classic Italian al fresco lunches, complemented by refreshing cocktails and freshly prepared juices – all set against the original 19th-century stone arches of the building, once the home of celebrated Italian opera singer Giuditta Pasta.

Mandarin Oriental, Lago di Como is located at Via E. Caronti, 69, 22020 Blevio CO, Italy

Miramonti Boutique Hotel

The panoramic view from the Miramonti Boutique Hotel’s outdoor infinity pool is among the region’s most spectacular. From its cliff-edge perch overlooking the sleepy town of Merano, mountain chains unfold in all directions. The pool is just the first in a sequence of alfresco wellness stops. A trail winds up the hill through the pine forest, and along it guests can find a plunge pool, sauna hut, lounge chairs and, at the top, a heated pool, each with a sweeping view of the valley. Recent architectural and interior redesigns, including the guest rooms, the Onsen Pool, and the ground-floor renovations, were led by Heike Pohl and Andreas Zanier of the Merano-based firm Tara Architects

Miramonti Boutique Hotel is located at Via S. Caterina, 14, 39010 Avelengo BZ, Italy

Nekajui Peninsula Papagayo, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Nekajui Peninsula Papagayo, the first Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Central America, and only the eighth in the world, stretches over 570 hectares of lush cliffside, but if you gaze up towards it from the sapphire waters below, you can barely tell it’s there at all. The development of Nekajui was led by The Athens Group, who worked with architects from Gensler and 10 Design to create a property that never looks out of place in its majestic surroundings. The 107 rooms and 37 residences spread across the property all face the ocean and are reliably spacious, with even the most modestly sized Ocean Reserve rooms measuring in at 872 square feet. The infinity pool at the Nimbu Spa offers panoramic ocean views and creates the sensation of swimming in the air.

Nekajui Peninsula Papagayo, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve is located at Peninsula Papagayo, End of the 253 National Route, Provincia de Guanacaste, Liberia, 50104, Costa Rica

Our Habitas AlUla

Waking up to an impressive view takes on a new meaning at Our Habitas AlUla. Being right at the centre of Ashar Valley in Saudi Arabia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the property ensures the immense beauty of the natural world and the dramatic splendour of human creations from every angle – its swimming pool flaunting front-row views of the golden sand stretches and rocky outcrops that emerge from the desert’s expanse. Despite having been a hub of trade and cultural exchange for millennia, AlUla, often likened to an open-air museum, is a brand-new tourism destination. This is why the in-house Our Habitas design team (with the help of global firm Aedas) was tasked with creating Habitas’ distinctive social architecture, bringing guest experiences and human connections to life. Bathing in an ancient desert valley might not be on everyone’s bucket list, but after discovering this property, it certainly will be.

Our Habitas AlUla is located at QV65+RH3, Ashar Valley, AlUla 43511, Saudi Arabia

Reschio

Reschio, a 3,700-acre pastoral estate with a 1,000-year-old castle at its core, has long observed the twists and turns of history from the passage of pilgrims to world wars. Today, following a transformation by architect Count Benedikt Bolza and his wife Donna Nencia, it stands as a boutique hotel, known for its star-studded guestbook full of names of those seeking an escape from Hollywood. Located in the heart of Umbria, a region known as the ‘green heart’ of Italy, Reschio is well at home within its context. Its outdoor pool poses as a lake and seamlessly reflects the surrounding greenery, making it a tranquil spot to dip into. Opposite the old watch tower, it has been converted into a refreshing poolside bar offering tempting gelato and freshly made cocktails.

Reschio is located at Tabaccaia di Reschio, 06060 Lisciano Niccone PG, Italy

The Retreat at Blue Lagoon

Located on a private inlet of the titular lagoon, The Retreat at Blue Lagoon was designed by Basalt Architects and Design Group Italia as an extension of an earlier complex, creating a natural transition that blends a concrete superstructure the colour of dark grey lava with terrazzo, sand, water features and moss. The 62 guestrooms feature a quietly rugged mood of walnut and lava surfaces that are dressed with pieces by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Urquiola – though the marquee attraction has to be the private blue lagoon pools and spa, a subterranean pleasure dome of interlocking chambers cut into the volcanic rock that offers treatments based on the silica, algae and minerals of geothermal seawater.

The Retreat at Blue Lagoon is located at Norðurljósavegur 11, 241 Grindavík, Iceland

Le Sirenuse

The swimming pool at Le Sirenuse, a family-run boutique hotel in the beautiful coastal town of Positano, Italy, is akin to a swimming pool of dreams. In 2024, as part of the hotel’s ongoing site-specific commission series, art advisor Silka Rittson-Thomas asked Swiss artist Nicolas Party, best known for his abstract interpretations of familiar landscapes, portraits and still lifes that are both fluid and vibrant, to thoroughly transform the poolside terrace in time for the summer season. The result? An immersive and playful space where organic forms intertwine and dance underwater. Party’s work, a lively aquascape made of Bisazza mosaics – a choice instructed per the wishes of the hotel’s co-owners, Antonio and Carla Sersale, to honour Antonio’s late father’s vision – is a joyful reinterpretation of the location’s distinctive view of the sea and mountains.

Le Sirenuse is located at Via Cristoforo Colombo, 30, 84017 Positano SA, Italy

Good times by the ocean have always been at the heart of Desa Potato Head, a cultural centre in Bali’s Petitenget Beach where ‘music, art, design, food and wellness play together’. Primarily known for Potato Head Beach Club, a 226-room resort striving to elevate the Indonesian hospitality scene through avid sustainability innovations (such as its on-site Waste Lab), the B Corp-certified group now introduces Klymax Discotheque, a purpose-built nightclub dedicated to the art of dance.

Desa Potato Head introduces Klymax Discotheque

For this project, Desa Potato Head enlisted the help of its frequent collaborator, the Dutch architecture studio OMA, alongside DJ Harvey, a longtime friend and an exponent of the house sound in the UK, to ideate ‘an unimaginable dancefloor experience’. From ground to sound, the team sought to create a state-of-the-art equipped space where dance music and its gravitational rhythms ‘could resonate with the audience.’ For this, a rich sound system was custom-built by Studio 54’s audio engineer, George Stavro, following Harvey’s specifications.

When envisioning the versatile space, OMA took inspiration from 1970s and 1980s New York club culture – think Paradise Garage. As such, a sprung dancefloor, four-speaker stacks and a fully isolated, floating DJ booth now set the tone for a long night dancing under the shine of a twinkling mirror ball. Open every weekend with an extensive programme of international headline DJs and hand-picked residents, Klymax Discotheque has also announced plans for a curated mid-week programme connecting music culture with art, film, dance, performance and wellbeing.

seminyak.potatohead.co

When a Swedish family started their search for a dream Bali house – a modern, low-maintenance holiday retreat on the Indonesian island – they turned to The Lennon Project, headed up by Sam Lennon. The Auckland-based architecture studio then set out to balance the requirements of its clients with the island’s rhythms, traditions and overall culture, bringing everything together effortlessly in Tegel House, which feels like a natural addition to its neighbourhood, Canggu, a buzzy resort on the island’s south coast. Following extensive research, the family had landed on their dream plot, which sat next to a house also designed by the studio. ‘They liked the aesthetic of this house and asked the owners for my details,’ recalls Lennon of the first conversations back in 2020.

Inside a Bali house in tune with its surroundings

The site, even though located in a high-density area, overlooks a green belt of protected land, which consists of terraced rice paddy fields still in use by farmers. It was these views and the island’s slow pace, green nature and pleasant climate that the owners wanted to make the most of, asking the architects to create a retreat that embraces local styles and materials, while avoiding pastiche interpretations of the island vernacular.

‘I wouldn’t say that the general form of the house adheres to the traditional Balinese style, but we have intentionally used a limited but considered material palette, consisting of local natural materials, to ensure the home felt like it belonged in its wider surroundings,’ says Lennon. ‘Most notably, the dry stacked bricks, which are commonly seen in many local temples, but used here in a more modern context. The use of teak is also a dominant feature throughout the house. These materials often pass from the exterior to the interior environment, blurring the thresholds of indoor and outdoor.’

As the structure sits on a long, narrow site, bringing natural light in was a key concern. The solution lay in creating flowing, open, communal spaces on the ground level, swathes of glazing in the circulation areas, well-orchestrated views in the bedrooms upstairs, and a central courtyard that unites different parts of the house while allowing daylight to infiltrate. Conceived as a black timber box resting on a series of solid brick walls that jut out, delineating the plot’s boundaries and defining the outdoors, Tegel House achieves that tropical modern feel, while maintaining a sense of streamlined contemporary minimalism.

The studio’s work was enhanced by the owners’ research and understanding of Balinese craftsmanship. Before commissioning The Lennon Project, they spent a lot of time on the island researching local talent, and eventually shared with the architects a wishlist of craftspeople and artists that they wanted to collaborate with on the project. 

Working with the Balinese trade community and resources on most aspects of design and construction not only wove the house organically into the island’s way of life, but it also kept its carbon footprint down.

The project’s contributors include woodworkers Kalpa Taru, who built cabinetry and bespoke pieces of furniture; interior design studio Somewhere Concepts; Maverick Lee, who created a series of neolithic-looking objects; and Ricky Lee Gordon and his charcoal art. And because of the owners’ proactive and trusting attitude, as well as the fact that the architects are based in New Zealand and the scheme developed during the pandemic (a local architect helped to coordinate everything), Tegel House became a truly collaborative piece of architecture, folding talent and ideas from across the island into its creative process.

It’s a flexible, inclusive and culture-led approach that the owners are keen to keep alive. The family’s two grown-up children often visit separately with their friends, while on other occasions, the parents join them. At the same time, the clients plan to make their house available to visiting artists – for example, to those invited to show work in Gordon’s new gallery, Sun Contemporary, which has just opened in Canggu. In exchange for their stay, visitors would leave a piece of their art in the home.

‘As the project unfolded, diverse artists became integral to the process, each contributing their unique creativity to shape the perfect dwelling,’ say the clients. ‘This decision isn’t just about opening our doors; it’s a celebration of artistic expression and a desire to foster an ever-evolving canvas within our walls. The hopeis that, with each visit, there’s a new masterpiece waiting to be discovered, making Tegel House a living testament to the intersection of architecture, sustainability and the endless possibilities of art.’

thelennonproject.com

A version of this article appears in the June 2024 Travel Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

The Loop, an expansive private home nestled within the leafy nature of Bali in Pajangan, is the latest residential completion of designer Alexis Dornier – a German-born creative who has lived on the island since 2013. The home, while sculptural, dramatic and thoroughly contemporary, feels in tune with its context, through its architects' careful selection of materials and low, broken-down volumes. 

The Loop: a home that inspires and serves

The project's brief was 'simple yet profound', Dornier recalls. The clients explained how they had 'lived in boxes' their entire life and were now seeking the opposite. 'I set out to craft an architectural masterpiece that defies gravity and captivates the human spirit,' he adds. 

In meeting the brief's requirements, the team was also adamant that they ensure the site's lush surroundings were preserved as much as possible. As a result, the home is engulfed in greenery, wrapped in the existing Balinese jungle foliage found on the plot. Adhiputra Landscape helped create the setting, supported by environmental engineering consultancy Eco Mantra. 

At the same time, a floorplan forming an elegant figure '8' was chosen as optimal to allow for the best lighting inside the home and views out from different parts of the house. As the structure sits on a slope, it was designed to seemingly float above the ground and greenery. 

The process was not without challenges. Dornier says: 'The project posed unique challenges that demanded innovative solutions. Bending materials in two dimensions and resolving complex geometrical situations required meticulous planning and collaboration with skilled artisans. It was a journey into uncharted territory, pushing the boundaries of architectural possibilities.' 

The end product is engaging and finely crafted, using the skills of local craftspeople, while adding drama to the everyday for its users - created in coordination with interior designer Silvia Fairman. 'It stands as a testament to our commitment as architects to challenge the ordinary and create spaces that inspire and captivate all who encounter them,' Dornier writes.

alexisdornier.com 

In times of disruption, new ideas grow. For Daniel Mitchell, the former creative director of Bali's trailblazing beach club and eco-playground Desa Potato Head, that rang true when the pandemic brought the island's tourism industry to a standstill. At Potato Head, he was a linchpin in the project's transformation into one of Asia's most envelope-pushing sustainable communities and oversaw the creation of the craft-forward Katamama Hotel (now renamed Potato Head Suites) and its expansion into the OMA-designed Desa Potato Head creative village. 

‘When the pandemic struck, there was this void. It was as if the world had stopped,' Mitchell says. ‘At Potato Head, we had been striving for years to make these sustainable changes and thought they'd only happen slowly. The space made available because of the pandemic opened up the opportunity to implement new systems and ways of thinking.' 

Mitchell filled the void with Space Available, which started out as an online platform and podcast series for his thoughts on everything from mental wellbeing to agro-culture and utopian communities, heavily inspired by Stewart Brand's counterculture bible The Whole Earth Catalog.

In the following year, these ideas manifested into a collection of physical objects, including blue marble-like coasters and incense holders made from recycled bottle caps and chairs made from post-consumer plastic waste (not unlike Jane Atfield's RCP2 chair) designed in collaboration with DJ Peggy Gou. Soon after, Mitchell’s recycled plastic homeware and garments from upcycled cotton and twill (hand-coloured with dye from black umbrella leaf) were sold at Selfridges and Dover Street Market boutiques around the globe. And now, with the opening of Museum of Space Available (MoSA) in summer 2022, they're available on Mitchell's home turf. 

The new gallery, pitched up in a derelict building along the main road of Canggu, a coastal community in southern Bali, is the product of a collaboration with local architecture studio Sidarta and Sandjaja. The duo stripped the building back to its concrete skeleton and added a pressed-plastic façade from more than 200,000 recycled plastic bottles made in partnership with Surabaya-based design workspace Robries. The two-storey space houses a boutique, a workshop space, and a recycling station offering free repair services for Space Available products. 

On the ground floor, research studies by Mitchell and his team of collaborating artists, designers and bio-innovation scientists result in exhibitions that span physical products, sculptures and digital elements such as video installations and NFTs. MoSA's opening exhibition, ‘Plastic People’, zeroes in on the drastic effects of synthetic plastics on our environment and highlights the alarming presence of plastic particles everywhere from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the very cells of the human body. Next up, an exhibition on fungi explores the creative possibilities of lab-grown mycelium in a post-plastic-waste world. 

Mitchell's work draws heavily on local crafts and skilled artisans, using modern materials to propel ancient techniques into the future. Collaborations with Balinese craftspeople such as master weaver Nano Uhero (who helped create a chair from wood, rattan, and woven recycled plastic rope) don't just benefit the local environment, but also uplift the craft community and related businesses. 'Craft culture is at the very core of what we do, and we couldn't have done all this without the people of Indonesia,' Mitchell says. 'It's a real collaboration where everybody wins.' 

INFORMATION

spaceavailable.tv

ADDRESS

Jalan Pantai Batu Mejan 33a 
Kabupaten Badung, Bali 
Indonesia

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Founded by designer Elora Hardy in 2010, Ibuku is growing to be one of the most exciting architecture and design studios to come out of the island of Bali, Indonesia. The practice’s approach of ‘pioneering a new design vocabulary’ through the use of bamboo has placed it among the global leaders in the material’s construction and innovation. Having designed and built The Arc at Green School earlier this year, brilliantly showcasing its skill in this genre of sustainable architecture, Ibuku now reveals its latest bamboo structure, the newly completed Alchemy Yoga and Meditation Centre in Ubud, south-eastern Bali.

One of Indonesia’s main tourist hubs, attracting millions of travellers a year, Bali is known for its rich cultural heritage and diverse ecological and geographic landscapes. The rice terraced scenery of Ubud (derived from the Balinese word ‘Ubad’, which means ‘medicine’) is at the heart of traditional arts and crafts production on the island. The Alchemy Yoga and Meditation Center has a form carefully embedded into this Balinese landscape.

Bamboo structure makes innovative and sustainable yoga centre

Built on a smooth, circular foundation made of timber, the structure rests on rugged boulders. There are nine such pedestals, from which spring bamboo arches – and none is identical. They help define the roof structure, and in order to avoid making it too heavy and ensure its stability, the Ibuku team arranged these arches in a way that results in limited overlap, spreading the load. This also creates a striking appearance, and ‘every arrangement you look at is like an arrangement of flowers’, says Hardy. 

There was a further careful process in order to select and match the colour tones and diameters of the bamboo poles and tapers. As all poles had to be handpicked for structural reasons, their colour arrangement proved to be a laborious task. The studio worked with local craftsmen, relying on their expertise of sorting between shades of black and brown, to select each individual pole forming the arches suitable for the structure.

Meanwhile, the blond bamboo ceiling elements create a radiating rhythm where ‘the rafters are arrays of sunbursts, extending the pattern to illustrate the energetic lines upwards as if from underground suns’, says Defit Wijaya, one of the senior architects at Ibuku.

Whilst the repeated structural elements allow for efficiency in construction, the studio still introduced playful asymmetries, aiming to balance a design language that remains sensitive to yoga practices and harmonious to the interior experience of the structure. One of the architects, Doni Nodly, explains: ‘By randomising the roof beam orientations, we made an analogy to how bamboo clumps grow in nature.’ Emphasised by the circular shape of the floor, biophilic design helps ‘the structure to escape being a structure so that you can relax and be in nature’. This method of playing with juxtapositions of order and randomness results in a variety of vistas: ‘There are nine perspectives with each frame and views offering a unique shape.’

With the bamboo arches intersecting to support the roof, the latter’s shape is ‘entirely derived from the interior experience’. The exposed ceiling is pigmented and stained with bamboo matting in a rusty tone that reflects the copper roof above. The top exterior copper shingle skin is handcrafted, with highly skilled artisans shaping each angle of bends and the curves of the edges. 

Rather than manipulate the bamboo, the studio emphasises that, ‘we want to follow the conversation with the material, to be accommodating to it’. The bamboo is sourced and harvested in Bali and nearby islands, such as Java, and treated with a boron solution having a ‘toxicity level just 1.5 times greater than that of regular table salt’, the architects explain. Ibuku has an extensive history of collaborating with local artisans including exclusive contractor and construction partner PT Bamboo Pure, a bamboo treatment facility and custom furniture workshop, as well as local education and research enterprise Bamboo U, contributing to an innovative culture of new and future bamboo vernaculars. Its design methods and the efficiency in bamboo construction has enabled the studio to complete over 200 such projects in the last decade alone.

The Yoga and Meditation Center, a partner of Alchemy Group, which first opened a vegan restaurant in Bali followed by a local holistic clinic for alternative treatments, is a fine example of Ibuku’s work. Architects and clients are now preparing to officially launch the yoga centre in 2022.

INFORMATION

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The Green School in Bali is known for its finely tuned programme that follows children from early years through to secondary education, infused with a focus on creativity, the arts and ecological responsibility. Founded by John and Cynthia Hardy in 2006 and built around the principles of sustainable architecture, the school is a unique take on education; and now, it can also boast a brand new structure in its midst. The Arc, designed by local design and architecture studio Ibuku, headed by Elora Hardy, has recently been completed, offering a fresh visual shorthand for education architecture and the school's green identity through its pioneering, green bamboo roof. 

The project was designed to host a wellness space and gymnasium for the school campus. Whimsical but sturdy, beautifully undulating as well as light and dynamic – almost like the bamboo version of a boat's billowing sails in the wind – the roof is thin and balanced, and feels organic and close to nature. The trick was marrying traditional, age-old techniques for building with bamboo, and new technologies, Hardy, explains. 

Bamboo roof is both inspired and eco-friendly

The structure is a feat of engineering, taking bamboo architecture to a whole new level, including bespoke elements and intensely researched building methods. It is created ‘from a series of intersecting 14m-tall bamboo arches spanning 19m, interconnected by anticlastic gridshells that derive their strength from curving in two opposite directions,' the Ibuku team explain. The masterful designs were refined in collaboration with German carpentry specialist Jörg Stamm and structural engineers Atelier One.

‘The Arc operates like the ribs of a mammal's chest, stabilised by tensile membranes analogous to tendons and muscles between ribs. Biologically, these highly tensile microscopic tendons transfer forces from bone to bone. In The Arc, bamboo splits transfer forces from arch to arch,' says Stamm.

Drawing on the local architecture vernacular, as well as organic design, mixed with cutting-edge engineering, The Arc at Green School in Bali is an eco-friendly design, proudly showcasing the power and beauty of nature and geometry.

INFORMATION

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When invited to create a new hotel and cultural centre in Ubud, Bali, Indonesian architect Andra Matin soon realised that his assigned plot didn't offer direct access to the street. Set further aback, the building was to be created behind an existing gallery that was taking up the obvious place where a ‘grand entrance' would be. Yet when asked about the project's ‘main challenge', this unorthodox situation didn't quite make the cut; shifting plans that led to budgetary and timeline changes were the project's key obstacles to overcome, says the architect.

The hotel's lack of street frontage was seen more as an exciting opportunity, an architectural puzzle, solved by creating a vertical entrance, as the visitor goes up and into a 45m-long, high bridge, on the other side of which is the main Titik Dua complex. ‘The bridge connecting the main road to the site creates a special experience to welcome the guests and at the same time establishes a visual connection with the surroundings,' says Matin. 

Located in Bali's centre, in the town of Ubud, Titik Dua comprises several functions; conceived as a creative hub and hospitality hybrid, where the arts, film, architecture, graphic design and music can find a home on the ground floor, and hotel guests can stay in rooms on the upper level, the project combines the private and the public. There's also an amphitheatre, a multi-functional room, and a bar, as well as a restaurant right under the scheme's pitched roof – ‘a space often unused in many Balinese buildings,' says Matin. 

Originally intended to be created in reused shipping containers, the project now features natural brick and a timber roof in forms that blend modernity and the traditional Indonesian vernaculars. Steel was also used to ‘add a modern palette', but at its heart, the architecture was designed so that guests can enjoy the island's pleasant climate, merging inside and outside, and allowing the breeze to go through and cool down the interiors naturally where possible. 

‘The boxy look of the building echoes the original plan, which was to reuse shipping containers to construct the whole structure,' explains Matin. ‘The bricks are arranged in a wavy configuration in some areas of the hotel, mimicking the façade of a container, with details that allow for air circulation and natural sunlight.'

Since 2007, when Matin and his firm were featured as a relatively young, emerging practice in the Wallpaper* Architects Directory, things have changed for the Bandung-based office, whose reputation has been reaching far beyond its country's borders. Recent accolades include an honourable mention at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale and a shortlisting for the prestigious Aga Khan awards in 2019.

‘We’ve slowly grown from an office of about twelve people in 2007 to one of more than forty,' says the architect. ‘At the same time, we try to be consistent in exploring our architecture which is based on context, climate, user, space and material.' Work has grown in scale too, with airports, preservation work and sports complexes now featuring in the practice's portfolio. Yet housing remains a typology close to Matin's heart. ‘Residential was the first typology that we started out designing, so coming back to residential projects is always interesting for me,' he adds.

MORE FROM WALLPAPER* ARCHITECTS DIRECTORY 2020

INFORMATION

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What started with the hot-ticket Potato Head beach club and Katamama hotel on Bali's Seminyak beach has extended into a fully-fledged creative village with the opening of the Potato Head Studios, a brutalist beachfront courtyard designed by OMA founded by Rem Koolhaas.

Home to hotel rooms, a subterranean nightclub, a recording studio, and performance- and gallery spaces, the stilted structure hints to Indonesian vernacular with ceilings woven from recycled bottles and poured concrete walls punctured by symbols from the Balinese lunar calendar.

Inside, 168 bedrooms feature modular teakwood beds and bathrooms alongside furnishings by Max Lamb who put the brand's zero-waste ethos at the forefront with chairs from compressed plastic litter and volcanic sand glassware.

A dome-shaped food lab dishes up mushroom satay and other plant-based riffs on Indonesian street food, there's a rooftop bar pouring arak-heavy drinks, and a jamu booth to nurse next morning's hangover with a tonic from herbs and spices grown on-site.

ADDRESS

Jl. Petitenget No.51B
Seminyak
Bali

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Since its opening last year, Capella Ubud has been turning heads thanks to its wacky design by the weird and wonderful Bill Bensley who - inspired by an 18th-century Dutch army camp - erected 22 one-bedroom tents in the lush emerald jungle, taking care not to disturb any extant trees, and letting the setting of rainforest, paddy fields and the tumbling Wos River dominate the tableau.

Now completing the resort's offering is the launch of the two-bedroom Lodge which, like the rest of the property, is a flamboyant riot of colours, patterns and textures, this time with an exotic Far Eastern theme that nods to the camp's owning family who are of Chinese decent. And so, a clash of oriental fabrics line the walls and the ceilings, creating a suitably eccentric background for ornate antique Chinese wardrobes and beds, hammered teak floorboards, Japanese-style bath tubs and throne-like toilets. 'I want the guests to feel very private and totally spoiled,' says Bensley.

Also with its own private saltwater pool, The Lodge slots right into the rest of the resort's offerings, which includes a spa that offers spiritual wellness like chakra balancing and prana healing as well as two restaurants - Mads Lange and Api Jiwa - the latter serving Asian barbecue dishes like the Australian wagyu rendang or the chicken yakitori served with pho bo espresso 'soup' served omakase-style.

ADDRESS

Jl. RY Dalem
Keliki, Kec. Tegallalang
Kabupaten Gianyar

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In the nearly three decades since it opened, Amankila has scarcely wavered from its position as one of the Aman brand's most popular properties.

This is partly thanks to its continual succession of updates, along with its prime – overlooking the Lombok Strait on Bali's quieter eastern shores - and its design by Ed Tuttle, whose terrace of 34 alang-alang-thatched suites cascade down a slope towards the signature three-tiered infinity pool, which takes centre-stage.

Now, in its latest bid to stay at the top of the game, the property has rolled out a technology upgrade to all of its suites, along with the addition of a series of infinity pools to three of its existing villas, which also comprise an ample outdoor terrace and the same elegant interiors that the property has become known for.

Ensconced within the lush emerald jungle, with sparkling ocean views, once you're installed, you might be hard-pressed to leave. If you do, the private sweep of the volcanic-sand beach awaits, as does the spa pavilion, which offers treatments inspired by the energy of east Bali.

Although you're likely to find us poolside with a Mangosteen cocktail in hand – as the pastel hues of the sunset fade from the sky - before heading to the ocean-view restaurant, which serves up a mix of Indonesian and western favourites using fresh, local ingredients.

ADDRESS

Jl. Raya Manggis
Manggis, Karangasem
Kabupaten Karangasem

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Three years ago when Laurie Mias first approached entrepreneur Gordon Oldham to invest in her juice shop in Hong Kong, little did she know the meeting would result in an entirely different proposal.

As it turned out, Oldham –  a lawyer and the co-founder and CEO of The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts – wasn't interested in juice. Instead, he sent Mias off to Bali where he tasked her with transforming his new purchase - the former Amanusa - into a spa hotel.

The result is Revīvō, a new kind of retreat that is upping Bali's wellness game with a strong approach to mindfulness. ‘With spa hotels everywhere in Bali, the competition is high,’ explains Mias. ‘To be a success, we needed to be something more.’

Swept high in the hills of Nusa Dua in the southernmost reaches of Bali, amidst three hectares of teak-swathed forest, Revīvō is intimate. With just 16 suites and villas, scattered between lush frangipani-flecked grounds, the complex, originally designed by architect Kerry Hill, is a calm retreat of shaded courtyards, enclosed gardens and vast rooms revealed through local stone, wood and thatch.

Tackling the interiors herself, Mias smartly highlighted the property's original Balinese features with a light intervention of bespoke furnishings from Java, locally sourced Indonesian fabrics, and accessories like ceramics from Gaya, a design studio and arts centre in Ubud. 

This all comes together to create a soothing bolthole for Revīvō's distinct concept. Meaning ‘I will live again’ in Latin, the retreat shuns the average spa getaway, instead focusing on achieving happiness. 'The more mindful you are, the less stressed you are, the happier you are,' explains Mias.

And so, with a series of different retreats on offer – which range from Emotional Balance to Sleep Well – a tailor-made programme, is put together by an onsite team of specialists. This adds up to days spent meditating, practicing yoga or pilates, working out and indulging in spa treatments, all the while training yourself to think about the present and enjoy being in the moment. 

Contemplative moments are supplemented by wholesome meals such as zucchini pesto pasta or the pumpkin carpaccio salad using fresh seasonal ingredients and vegetables that come mostly from the property's hydroponic garden. ‘Our belief is to serve food as close to its natural state as possible,’ says Mias. 

A retreat that is certainly cutting through the wellness din, this is only the beginning of the journey for Revīvō, which now also offers a cruise that sails around the Indonesian islands of Raja Ampat and Komodo. Up next will be a series of global openings from Barcelona to Niseko, including a wellness club in The First Roma Sensi Hotel by The Pavilions and the new Revīvō Wellness Resort Château de Fiac, set within a picture-perfect village just outside of Toulouse, which will include a restorative salt cave housed within a cellar carved directly from the rock more than 180 years ago.

INFORMATION

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ADDRESS

Jalan Desa Sawangan
Benoa, Kec. Kuta Sel.
Kabupaten Badung
Bali

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In just a few years, M.Development has become something of a byword for luxury accommodation in Bali, the Singapore-based group recently unveiling its fourth property, this time on the bijou Nusa Lembongan island about a 30-minute boat ride from Denpasar. The MO remains reassuringly familiar: the creature comforts and consistency of a five-star hotel hitched to the exclusivity of a private home.

On a rocky promontory looking clear out over the sea, the group’s in-house studio, Superlatives teamed up with James Brown of Adelaide-based UFO Agencies to channel a light Hamptons vibe into the five-bedroom house. The interiors are a soothing mix of pastel hues, cool terrazzo underfoot, and furniture carved out of recycled Javanese timber, the ensemble anchored by Picasso-esque murals by Brown and a cliffside fire-pit.

It takes two hours to hike around the island, but we’re more sold on the snorkeling and surfing in the island’s waters which are pleasingly undisturbed by the mainland’s tourist hordes. 

ADDRESS

Sunset Beach
Nusa Lembongan

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It’s no surprise that ocean-frontages are a prized commodity in Bali. Whilst Uluwatu – a windswept strip of dizzyingly high cliffs on the island’s southern corner – is something of an open secret, it still astonishes that this six bedroom villa stakes such an incredible swathe of sky and sea.

The client’s brief to the Cape Town-based studio SAOTA was for a family vacation home that took advantage not just of the clifftop views, but that also had a seamless indoor-outdoor connection.

The architects say the overriding challenge here was to avoid obvious Balinese tropes whilst ‘striving to drive a regional and contextualised response. In effect, we looked to reimagine traditional clichés.’

The starting point was the roof, an immense swathe of concrete whose thin silhouette and textured overhangs anchor the roaming eye and unify various living spaces and internal courtyards, from which the bedrooms radiate. ‘We wanted the roof to maintain a raw and elegant form which could soar over the cliff while retaining weight, and hold the courtyard. One of the challenges was how to implement this and still make it feel effortless.’

Resolution came partly through high ceilings, the liberal spread of high windows, and strategically placed voids in walls and ceilings. The passage of light, too, creates a sense of internal movement, the porous nature of the layout allowing the vertiginous cliff views to peek in and out as one progresses through the house, and through shade and light.

The effect is a subtle sense of fragmentation which the architects say ‘was partly inspired by the way in which rocky ruins are, over time, reclaimed by the landscape and come to seem almost as if they are a part of it.’

SAOTA also took charge of the interiors, dressing both indoor and outdoor spaces in a palette of modernist lines, including Jean Nouvel shelves, Gio Ponti armchairs, FLOS lamps and mesh furniture by Patricia Urquiola.

INFORMATION

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After eight years manning the kitchens at Bulgari Resort and the Ritz Carlton Reserve Mandapa, Maurizio Bombini has finally stepped out on his own with a spacious aerie in Bali’s buzzy Seminyak ‘hood.

Across the road from the W and a few blocks from Potato Head Beach Club, the restaurant is awash with light streaming in through deeply set loggias and an all-white double-height dining room that local interiors studio Ushers By Design has edged with breeze blocks, glass and judicious lashings of succulents.

The best seats in the house are at the central cruciform-shaped banquette with strategic views of the vitrine kitchen where Bombini oversees a mod-Italian menu inspired by his native Apulia, and with produce sourced from the hydronic garden on the rooftop and local Balinese farmers. Recent triumphs have included an onion consommé studded with ravioli perfumed with two-year old Parmigiano Reggiano, and a cavatelli pasta with seafood ragout.

INFORMATION

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ADDRESS

Jalan Petitenget No.100

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Lloyd’s Inn, a Wallpaper* favourite in Singapore, has quietly opened in Bali’s Double Six Beach, a lively neighbourhood much favoured by local hipsters and surf aficionados for its boutiques, galleries, cafés and white-foamed waves.

Once again, Singapore-based studio FARM took care of the design, converting an old hotel into a 101-room retreat where – in the cool white bathrooms, especially – the lines between the light-filled, raw concrete interiors and the exterior tropical landscaping are smoothly erased.

Partly to screen off the neighbours, the hotel’s estate walls rise canyon-like to enclose gardens, a long lap pool lined with Balinese slate tiles, and pebbled courtyards sprinkled with water hammocks and sofa pods, the whole linked by a narrow sinewy concrete sky-bridge.

The culinary offerings are equally seductive in their tropical minimalism, its chef orchestrating Indonesian and Asian flavours into a vol au vent stuffed with chicken braised in spices and coconut milk, and mie ayam, a Balinese favourite reinterpreted with a mushroom broth, and chicken lollipops.

ADDRESS

Jalan Arjuna
Seminyak
Bali

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Hakkasan Group’s first rollout of Sin City’s Omnia club has just landed in Bali’s Bukit peninsula, conveniently alongside the first Sake no Hana outside of London. And, even amid the welter of high-end day clubs that have opened around Uluwatu of late, Omnia stands out.

NYC’s Rockwell and Singapore’s WOHA worked side by side on the spectacular clifftop site. Sake no Hana sits poised atop a spectacular double staircase, enfolded in an ironwood lattice. Below, an elegant bar space forms a transition between Japanese culinary precision and the sun, cocktails, day beds and DJs of Omnia proper. Designed with Instagram in mind, the Cube bar mesmerises. Custom glass beads and mirrored steel create a slab of pure form that hovers, transcendent, above the Indian Ocean, capturing and transmuting Bali’s celebrated light.

Set amid lush green wilderness, 100m above Uluwatu’s iconic swells, Omnia may be the group’s first foray into Indonesia, but it won’t be the last. A second site opens in Jakarta later this year with an Omnia nightclub, another Sake no Hana and a Hakkasan restaurant, while a hotel is underway in Uluwatu, too.

INFORMATION

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ADDRESS

Jalan Belimbing Sari
Uluwatu

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Located in the laid-back village of Canggu, just north of Bali’s heaving Seminyak strip, The Slow is proof that there are still genuine surprises to be found in the island’s humming hotel scene.

The project of fashion designer George Gorrow, the property – initially intended to be his personal home – is now a 12-suite bolthole that is something of a cross between a brutalist manse and tropical tree house. Bali-based architecture firm GFAB used local materials including stone, timber and bricks dried on site, to create the capacious suites with slatted-wood walls that channel in the breeze.

Inside though, is Gorrow’s vision, from his art collection that grace the walls to the gallery and the store stocked with his new menswear line. Even the soundtrack – adjustable via in-room dials – has been curated by friends at Los Angeles-based Reverberation Radio.

And while the neighbourhood’s rich food offerings are just steps from the hotel, chef Shannon Moran’s health-focused menu with dishes such as miso broth served with seaweed, barley, mushrooms, tofu and spring onions or the chia bowl with cashew nuts, coconut, tamarillos and strawberries, is reason enough to stay put in the westward-facing roof garden at sunset. 

INFORMATION

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ADDRESS

Jalan Batu Bolong 97
Canggu

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For its first international venture, the Japanese resort group Hoshinoya could not have picked a more idyllic spot in Bali’s Ubud quarter.

Framed by a palimpsest of thousand-year old temple canals and the Pakerisan River valley, architect Rie Azuma has strung thirty villas along a dense three-hectare stretch of rainforest, rice terraces and shrines.

The aesthetic cleaves close to the Balinese ideal of balés capped by roofs covered with alang-alang grass, wall carvings of flora and fauna by local artisans, and a long stretch of swimming pool that’s evocatively styled as lushly foliaged canal.

A fantasist touch is delivered with trellised gazebos that hang high over the tree line for a literal bird’s eye panorama of the deep green forest canopy. The resort’s Japanese antecedents are recalled in a mod Balinese meets Japanese menu by resident chef Makoto Miyamaguchi that includes carpaccio paired with the pungent heat of sambal.

INFORMATION

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ADDRESS

Br. Pengembungan
Desa Pejeng Kangin
Kecamatan Tampaksiring
Gianyar
Bali

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Launching a hotel in Bali – an island already heaving with first-rate properties - is always a dicey business, but our bets are firmly on Katamama. Opening on one of Seminyak’s last prime stretches of beach, the 58-suite hotel is the first salvo in an ambitious mega-development that will eventually include – over the next couple of years – a second hotel designed by OMA’s Rem Koolhaas, and a third by Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan.

For Katamama, the owners – who are also behind the island’s beloved Potato Head Beach Club – have tapped Indonesian architect Andra Martin and Singapore-based interior designers Takenouchi Webb. The result is a quietly modern space that’s layered with acres of terrazzo, Balinese bricks, teak, and hand-made Javanese tiles.

Scattered throughout the public spaces and suites are artwork, furniture and precious tchotchkes from the owners’ personal collection though it’s likely that the focus will be on the mod-Spanish menu at the house restaurant MoVida, and the tropical-inflected cocktails at the Akademi bar.

ADDRESS

Jalan Petitenget 51B

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Bali’s charms impinge in earnest the moment you leave the one-street towns, bar strips and plasticky souvenir joints, and turn either inwards towards the green-draped valleys and terraced rice fields, or head towards the coast.

The newly opened Alila Seminyak takes its cues from its perfect beachfront location a short walk from Seminyak town’s hippy slash hipster collection of smart restaurants, art galleries, itsy local spas, and surf-shops.

As a group, Alila flies its eco-friendly flag high, eschewing air-conditioning for sea-breezes and natural ventilation. Brief in hand, architect Gaurang Khemka and his team at Singapore firm URBNarc have created a secret garden amidst the hustle and bustle of Seminyak, laying out the resort’s 240 rooms around a sequence of naturally shaded public spaces that are dominated by four swimming pools, one of which literally sits atop the entire length of the restaurant. The low-slung green-roofed four-storey buildings are clad in vertical green walls, and landscaped terraces courtesy of Gaurang, alongwith Chang huai-yan and Lee Berlin of the deliciously named Singapore-based outfit, Salad Dressing.

For our money, the best rooms in the house front the ocean, the floor to ceiling glass doors sliding open to uninterrupted views of white-foamed surf. Less sedentary types may enjoy a spin around town in the resort’s vintage Volkswagon Kombi, but between a lomi-lomi treatment in the fragrant, mood-lit spa, beach yoga, and a chilled cocktail from the beach bar, why would you?

ADDRESS

Jalan Taman Ganesha No. 5
Petitenget
Kerobokan Kelod
Bali

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Adding a third string to its impressive bow, the resort arm of the Ritz-Carlton group has debuted its latest property in the heart of Bali’s lush Ubud jungle. Designed by Kuala Lumpur based firm, DesignWilkes, the sustainably sourced Mandapa resort is modelled on an indigenous Balinese village to include its own temple and private rice paddies, where guests can turn their hand at planting and harvesting. The 60 suites and villas – some with private pools and each with views over the verdant rain forest – come with a dedicated Patih (butler) and are decorated with local artwork, available to buy from the onsite boutique. After a yoga class in the tranquil river-front studio, or a pamper session in the spa, head to Kubu, one of the resort’s four restaurants, to dine on Italian chef Maurizio Bombini’s classic Mediterranean dishes, in one of the nine private bamboo cocoons that overlook the idyllic Ayung river.

ADDRESS

Jalan Kedewatan
Banjar Kedewatan
Ubud

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Bali’s affinity for art, spirituality and striking natural beauty is all within good reason: this small Indonesian island has it in buckets. The Uma by Como in Ubud, sits at Bali’s heart and draws on its peaceful and culturally rich environment. The hotel comprises a series of modern rooms that hint at the local vernacular, the Como Shambhala Retreat that offers Asian-inspired wellness treatments, and a range of bespoke activities that ensure your stay will be a memorable one. The Italian flavours at Uma Cucina compliment the local food on offer, while on-site yoga sessions overlooking the surrounding valley will help offset the island’s many culinary temptations.

ADDRESS

Jalan Raya Sanggingan
Banjar Lungsiakan
Kedewatan
Ubud

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Named after the first spacecraft to land on the moon in 1959, this Modernist-style ‘studiotel’ on the west coast of Bali is fittingly cosmic. In a refreshing departure from the traditional thatched villas and muted tones that abound elsewhere on the island, here stark white surfaces and geometric shapes offer a dazzingly retro vision of the future, while vivid primary-colour pops jostle for attention. Nods to Dutch artist Piet Mondrian feature throughout, and in the 14 studios - each featuring three TVs, an iPad and iPod dock - the palette of black and grey is invigorated by flourishes of bold accent colour, with sophisticated walnut finishes. Spend your days luxuriating by the multicoloured pool, with its underwater sound system, or enjoy a popcorn-flavoured cocktail and movie in the 16-seat Lunaplex. At night, feast on inventive dishes such as truffled chicken with fiddlehead fern tips, purslane and candyfloss foam in the cheering yellow-painted Orbit restaurant, then descend the spiral staircase to the more understated Pop! bar, where you can revel into the small hours. Soothe sore heads the morning after with a reviving spa treatment or yoga session.

ADDRESS

Jalan Sarinande no 20
Seminyak 8036
Bali
Indonesia

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Bali Barret has been at the Helm of Hermes Silk for the past six years, and her latest collaboration with maestros of print, Liberty of London, looks set to take the store by storm for the next six weeks. Here we talk to Bali about the Liberty cross-pollination, scarves for men and dipping some of Hermes seminal silks in dylon.

Collaborations are big business these days, how did your partnership with Liberty come about?

Well, Liberty originally approached me with the idea of setting up a pop-up store and, seeing as it was something I’d never done before, I decided to set up a meeting. The process was so easy and immediate, it was about friendship and the whole thing came about very organically. We started discussions in May, designed in July and printed in August – which is unprecedented for Hermes. Everything just worked!

How much have you been involved with the design of the 'ephemeral' store itself?

Well, Liberty asked me to make a sketchbook of my inspirations and ideas, and the store itself was interpreted from that. Liberty found a few artists including Kyle Bean and in-house window designer Becky Cox and the whole thing just came together. We wanted to include fun elements throughout, so with Hermes’s equestrian symbol we replaced it with a zebra and Bean produced a beautiful range of handmade Hermes-orange objets d’art, including peep-hole cameras and spinning toys.

Where did your inspiration for the Liberty scarves come from?

We didn’t actually think about making a scarf originally. However, I’ve always been a very big fan of Liberty fabric, so I proposed that we produce a special print - a print imbued with the flavour of both houses – featuring both the characteristic Liberty micro floral and the Hermes iconic ex-libris along with a range of new and unexpected colour and pattern combinations.

What is it about Hermes scarves that carry such enduring sartorial loyalty?

Hermes is the only house that has been producing a scarf collection for the past 70 years. It’s a very serious point for us. When something is that well-established people start to realize the gravity of it. Also, we always attempt to renew and keep our finger on the pulse by re-editing our archives, but also working in exactly the same way we have always worked - the minimum amount of time it takes to make an Hermes scarf for instance, is still 2 years.

Both Hermes and Liberty have a long heritage of textile design, what has prevented past collaborations?

We were never really looking for collaborators. To be honest we were very happy on our own – we have our own stores and our own identity, but of course we are open to new people, Hermes is the house of ‘why not’. If there is a spark - as there was with Liberty - we’ll go for it. As long as there is a good relationship of course,

What has been the highlight of your Hermes tenure?

A highlight is hard to define, but I have been very lucky. Every day I think that ‘I am lucky to be here’. Creativity is still very much respected at Hermes and art direction is at the core of the house. Very few houses can say the same.

We are particularly fond of your cravats for men, how are they received in times such as these?

It’s difficult because there are two sides on the tie front these days. Those who are fashion-forward are now very excited by ties, but people with a more formal taste are leaving their ties behind - they are becoming more casual. Scarves however are on the up. The more casual Losange for example is an easy way for a man to wear a scarf - it offers a less feminine ways of wearing scarves. We need to teach men how to wear scarves!

Any other scarf-based collaborations in the pipeline?

No, we have no other collaborations in mind at the moment. But we do have lots of secret things I’m just itching to tell you about…although I’m not allowed to at the moment!

What would be your favourite ever Hermes scarf, past or present?

Well our most iconic scarf is undoubtedly the Brides de Gala - the pink, gold and black chain design which most people associate with Hermes - the piece I’m most proud of however is my dip-dyed version of the very same. I just took the scarf and dipped it in a vat of dylon – a process which left an imprint of the pattern but also produced an entirely new and unexpected effect. It was a way of recycling a scarf which desperately needed a breath of new life - and the dye also made the silk feel gorgeously vintage.