The latest luxury property added along the Singapore river, this hotel is the quintessence of understated luxury. A refurbishment project, structure is retained while facades and interiors were completely renewed.  

Occupying a long narrow site, the architecture is composed of floating volumes at the podium level, and a long tower block of dark glass. The challenge was to give the podium sufficient emphasis to draw attention from along and across the river, while maintaining a chic and elegant building appearance. The podium volumes convey lightness, with translucent fritted glazing used throughout to mask the retail and back-of-house activities. Amplifying this floating quality, uplighting is applied, picking up the frits and creating a glowing effect that could be seen all around the building. To minimise lighting pollution to the guestrooms above, linear fixtures with elongated beams were located close to the podium glass.

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In contrast, the tower block is kept dark and reflective. Indirect lighting is detailed into bronze-coloured metal fins; these provide understated and elegant vertical lighting accents at night. Subtly glowing backlit grey glass panels delineate the roofline. Light pollution and spillage into guestrooms is minimised, as lighting is contained within facade elements or indirect. To achieve the best lighting effect, several visual mock-ups were made.

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Complementing the clean architectural lines, the landscaping is lush and mannered. Manicured and multi-textural layers of planting line walkways and terraces. Bespoke lighting bars are installed between plant layers, providing uniform uplighting. The presence of greenery is revealed in a stunning way. 2700K lighting of high CRI and consistency is generally used. As the material palette is neutral, inconsistency in colour could be easily noticeable.