This article originally appeared in Luxury Travel magazine – !
Given my disorientating late-night arrival, I could be forgiven for thinking that my morning laps were, in fact, taking place in the iconic pool atop Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands. Firstly, there’s a distinct sense of swimming in the sky, suspended many floors above the lush greenery below – not to mention the unnervingly large oculus on the pool floor. But, more on that later. Secondly, there’s an uncanny feeling that all the materials are familiar – that I’ve seen their distinctive structure and finish el ewhere. These feelings aren’t misplaced, however, because has in fact been designed by the same firm responsible for the famous Marina Bay Sands complex, … with some help by local firm and interiors by .
This is a hotel with many faces. Singapore itself always seems to me a city of somewhat bewildering extremes: One moment I’m racing in a taxi from the airport along anonymous highways lined by indistinct high-rise buildings; the next I’m arriving in a blissfully peaceful hotel lobby where the sheer density and humid intensity of the unique city-state melt away. My experience at The EDITION begins in exactly this fashion.
The lobby gets it just right – large enough to feel generous and uncramped, but not so large as to feel a little lost. It achievesalightatmosphereofrefi ementthankstoitsscale and materiality, with white marble dominating. Meanwhile, a striking yet restrained central stairway acts as a focal point while avoiding an unduly in-your-face presence. In short, it’s impressive without being overstated.
The white spiral staircase connects not upwards, but down to the delights of the garden courtyard level. With its hand- sculpted quality, singular materiality and varied textural finis (it seems at once gloss and matte), the Venetian plaster also brings to mind Moroccan tadelakt craftsmanship traditions.
Such are the variety of offering at The Singapore EDITION, I never actually make it down said staircase until the end of my second day. Instead, I find myself rather peacefully ensconced in my decidedly less-is-more abode. The hotel’s 204 rooms maintain the lobby’s white minimalism – a design decision that works extremely well in this exciting, yet often sensorily overwhelming, city. A space of peace, quiet and calm – complete with copious views of the surrounding greenery, both on ground and sky garden levels – is exactly what I need, rather than gimmicky, gaudy or over-stimulating quarters. But then again, Ian Schrager has a knack for being on the bleeding edge of what people want. He proved this back in the late ’70s when he created New York City’s iconic Studio 54 nightclub. And then again in 2013 when he launched the boutique EDITION brand, in partnership with Marriott International.
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The colour is to come in other areas of the hotel, each defined (ratherde liberately) as its own distinct space and experience. There’s Punch Bar, for example, clad in bold blue, and the lobby bar highlighted in striking pinks. The pièce de résistance in hospitality offerings here, however, is a restaurant that marks Australian chef and seafood guru Josh Nyland’s first international venture. FYSH features sumptuous furnishings with plenty of green, not to mention timber-lined walls that achieve a certain old-time grandeur – a tapestry painting, Arrival, by British artist Christian Furr holds a defining resence.
For context, that suspended swimming pool in the sky helps for getting your bearings – it’s located by the quieter end of Orchard Road, a major high-end retail precinct. Walking its length – whether outside on the street or indoors via labyrinthine shopping mall pathways – can be a dizzying, tiring experience, rendering the hotel’s green, peaceful and minimal ambiance all the more valuable.
As with almost any corner of Singapore, the architecture is a heady mix of different typologies; the more you learn about the dense layers of history accumulated around you at any given moment in this city, the richer your experience of it will be. In this case, the 43-metre pool is able to be suspended so breathtakingly up is because it connects to a neighbouring residential building. Boulevard 88 is a pair of 28-storey apartment towers and, with both hotel and residences designed by Safdie Architects, the pool passes right between them.
The design of the hotel culminates in the extensive sunken garden. It’s hard to overstate the atmospheric effect of having submerged it in this way – it creates something of an other worldly haven, an oversized courtyard that simply feels a universe away from Orchard Road. It is lush, green and utterly peaceful. Meanwhile, the pool and its large oculus (I was only moderately scared when swimming over it) float directly above like some kind of sci-fi ddition to the scene.
Indeed, The Singapore EDITION captures a good number of the many faces of this city; the only downside is the tough decision of whether to spend your time in the peaceful garden courtyard or the supernatural pool deck, way up in the sky.
Safdie Architects
DP Architects
Cap Atelier
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