The Singapore Edition makes the case for opulence

(Image credit: The Singapore Edition)

Ian Schrager’s global fleet of ever-expanding Editions shows no sign of slowing down. The hotel impresario, who turns 77 in July 2024, currently presides over 19 properties – from West Hollywood to Madrid and Shanghai – with at least three in the works – a none-too-shabby showing for a brand that only launched in 2010.

Set on the quieter western end of Singapore’s fabled retail strip, Orchard Road, the low-slung, 204-room pile, clad in bronze and glass, is the work of the Israeli architect Moshe Safdie and local studio DP Architects.

The Singapore Edition: grandiose but playful and big on biophilic design

As the hotel brand’s first property in South East Asia, expectations have always been high for The Singapore Edition, and on every metric, the hotel doesn’t disappoint.

In dressing the cavernous interiors, Hong Kong-based studio Cap Atelier cleaves close to the Edition’s ‘millennial-luxe’ playbook, with acres of white stone and Calacatta marble, a swathe of gold here and a splash of hot pink and Yves Klein blue there, and finishes the ensemble with dense greenery by way of biophilic walls and a glass-clad conservatory on the mezzanine floor, and a massive courtyard garden on the ground level.

If the public spaces are playful and grandiose in their scale and colours, the guest rooms are practically monastic in their blinding all-white minimalism. Not to forget mentioning the white rugs and hand-sewn damask throws, white oak floors, and white linen upholstery – surely a source of much sighing by housekeeping.

For restless guests, there are diversions aplenty, not least a small but perfectly curated gift shop and a mood-lit labyrinthine spa featuring thermal his-and-her plunge pools and ice fountains. Meanwhile, literally staking the high ground is an impressive 43m rooftop pool – a scaled-down facsimile of the Instagram-famous roofline at the Marina Bay Sands across town, which Safdie also designed – that links the Edition and its eponymous branded private residences.

And in a city where hotels stand or fall on the calibre of their food and beverage outlets, the Singapore Edition more than holds its own with a clutch of smart eateries and bars, including Fysh, the Australian chef Josh Niland’s first overseas outpost – a grand high-ceilinged dining room furnished with green velvet banquettes, white marble tables, a green marbled bar, and a head-turning tapestry painting by British artist Christian Furr.

editionhotels.com

Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.