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bill bensley
FAHTHAI
43
T
o the world’s hoteliers, the
name Bill Bensley carries
near-talismanic power.
Having your luxury hotel
or resort blueprinted
and designed by the Bangkok-based,
Harvard-educated architect and
landscape designer is a privilege granted
to just a select few. And grabbing a piece
of “The Bensley Effect” tends to mean
one thing: a trip to the prize podium. In
short, if Bensley is the man behind the
design of a hotel, it has very likely won
an award or three.
The man himself is no stranger to
award ceremonies:
Time
magazine’s
most creative designer,
asiaSpa
’s best
spa designer,
Condé Nast Traveler
’s best
hotel in the world three years running…
the list goes on.
Considered a world leader in the
field of hospitality design and known
in the business as “the king of exotic
luxury resorts”, Bensley Design Studios
has designed in excess of 180 resorts
and hotels in more than 30 countries
across the globe. What’s more, the firm
employs a team of 150-plus architects,
interior designers, landscape architects,
sculptors and artists.
Fah Thai
caught up
with this playful workaholic at his home
in Bangkok.
Designer, architect, landscaper
—
what's
the best word to describe what you do?
You can call me anything just as long
as it’s not profane! Really, I’m not
precious about titles. I was first trained
as a landscape architect, then went to
Harvard and learned a wee bit about
architecture; then came to Asia 30
years ago and picked up some interior
architecture skills. But now that we’re
designing all aspects of a hotel
—
from
architecture and music, to fashion design
and graphics
—
the best title might
simply be “designer”.
You once said that your philosophy
follows the Indonesian expression:
Lebih gila, lebih biak”
. Can you explain
what this means?
Literally translated, it means “the crazier,
the better”. I started saying this to my
staff mainly to make them laugh, and
enjoy our “no bad ideas” design process.
In everything we do, I want our work to
be out of the ordinary.
And how important is eco-sensitivity in
your work?
Eco-sensitivity is paramount. I was
trained as a landscape architect and by
definition that means I’m a guardian
of Mother Nature. I know that gives
me a unique perspective in the way we
design our architecture. ShintaMani
Wild in Tmor Rung is, to date, my
most innovative eco-solution in a
sensitive environment. The “glamping”
suite is raised so as not to inhibit the
migration of wild animals in this remote
Cambodian wilderness. Every project we
do has an emphasis on the preservation
of the environment, from the simple
idea of preserving every tree on a site
to the notion of building a resort that’s
completely self-sufficient and off the grid.
Who are your architectural heroes?
Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi and
Lek Bunnag.
How do you go about your work?
I look at designing a hotel simply as
a long, complex series of choices. For
example, what kind of story to tell
with the narrative of the hotel? How
many rooms? What kind of material
to use for the curtains? What kind of
music should be heard in the lobby?
What kind of glasses to drink from?
Our hotel projects take from three to
eight years to complete and along this
journey thousands of questions present
themselves. My solution, to keep on
track, is to ask myself: what is the DNA
of the project? If the DNA is clear, one
can produce a well-defined project that
will stand the test of time.
Your vision seems to resemble that of a
film auteur, in that your personal touch
goes into every last detail. Have you
always been so all encompassing?
Absolutely not! Twenty years ago I
never would have imagined we’d be
doing the things we’re doing now. I
guess it’s the urge to keep learning, to
keep pushing ourselves into unknown
territory that keeps us fresh. I do my
best work when I’m uncomfortably
out of my depth.
When have you had to compromise?
No designer, ever, has had enough
budget since the dawn of man.
When did you last walk away
from a project with a sense of
disillusionment?
This happens very rarely. In 30 years,
I can count the number of times on
one hand. It’s usually about a client
not really knowing what he wants
to build.
When you go on holiday, can you switch
off? Or do you find yourself examining
the rooms, the bathrooms, the lobby,
the garden...
How did you guess? I can switch off if
I’m in the wild, miles from anywhere,
with a fly-fishing pole in my hand! This
spring we’re going to fly fish for giant
trout in north-east Mongolia, travelling
each day for 10 hours in a two-person
raft to a tented campsite. Now that’s
relaxing!
You obviously love fishing. What was
your most exciting catch?
The most exciting catch was on my
birthday last year in Chilean Patagonia,
on our way home from the South Pole.
What luck I had! It was on my first cast
of 50-plus metres; I caught a 32-pound
Chinook salmon on an undersized
fishing line and it took me over an hour
to get him to shore. What a happy day
that was!
IMAGES: INDIGO PEARL PHUKET
LINEAR FORM
The distinctively
striped pool at
Indigo Pearl,
Phuket
