Geoffrey London is Government Architect for Victoria, Australia.

He is a former Dean and Head of School at The

Kerry Hill Crafting Modernism

Kerry Hill
University of Western Australia, past Chair of the Committee of Heads of Architecture Schools of Australasia, and a
past President and Lifetime Fellow of the Western Australian Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects.

Erwin Viray is a Professor of Architecture and Design at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan.

Paul Finch is the chairman of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. He is also programme
director of the World Architecture Festival and editorial director of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal.

Oscar Riera Ojeda is an editor and designer based in the US and China. He is the publisher of over one hundred
architecture books and book series. He regularly collaborates with Thames & Hudson.

Crafting Modernism
Essays by:
Geoffrey London
Paul Finch
Erwin Viray

Edited by:
Oscar Riera Ojeda
Other titles of interest

Beyond Bawa Crafting Modernism is a long overdue book that examines and celebrates more than 30 years
Modern Masterworks of Monsoon Asia of consistently strong and innovative work by Kerry Hill Architects, an architectural studio with
David Robson. Photographs by Richard Powers offices in Singapore and Fremantle, Australia. This multi-award winning practice established
With over 600 illustrations, 370 in colour its reputation with a series of exotic resorts in locations throughout South-East Asia. It also
designed a brace of exceptional houses that were informed by the earlier resort work. The
Geoffrey Bawa resorts have been widely regarded as part of an architectural lineage initiated by Geoffrey
The Complete Works Bawa, recognizable in a shared response to location through climatic strategies, the use of
David Robson materials, and their form of construction.
With over 500 illustrations, 250 in colour
Over the past decade, Kerry Hill has embraced the uncertain world of architectural competitions
Kengo Kuma in order to engage with more civic and public works. The practice has enjoyed a particularly

Kerry Hill
Complete Works high success rate and has completed and is now designing highly distinguished buildings
Kenneth Frampton
With 350 illustrations, 250 in colour Crafting Modernism throughout the world.

An Australian who has spent his career in Asia, Kerry Hill brings a deep understanding of the
5 in Five - BEDMaR & SHi East to his increasingly refined contemporary architecture. His unique approach has been
Reinventing Tradition in Contemporary Living formed from his experience of the cultural and spiritual coherence in places like Bali, Japan, Sri
Edited by Oscar Riera Ojeda Lanka and Bhutan. Hill’s architecture is made distinctive by the rich experience of his generous
Text by Darlene Smyth. Photographs by Albert Lim and tranquil spaces.
Illustrated in colour and black and white throughout
Organized chronologically, this four-hundred-page book features an extended essay about
Next Wave: Emerging Talents in Australian Architecture the evolution of the practice and a selection of forty of Kerry Hill’s most important works from
Davina Jackson. Photographs by Shannon McGrath 1992-2012. This gives readers a privileged view into the world and thinking of an architectural
Illustrated in colour and black and white throughout Essays by: practice that richly deserves international exposure.
Geoffrey London
£ 35.00 Paul Finch With 900 illustrations, 590 in colour.
Erwin Viray
On the jacket:
Edited by: Front: Albert Lim K.S.
Printed in China Oscar Riera Ojeda Back: A selection of images from throughout the book.
Kerry Hill Crafting Modernism

Essays by:
Geoffrey London
Paul Finch
Erwin Viray

Edited by:
Oscar Riera Ojeda
The Nature Geoffrey London
of a Practice
Kerry Hill has spent the last forty years based in Asia from where he has developed a south coastal fort of Galle. Sri Lanka benefitted from Justin’s philanthropy after he estab-
formidable international practice, Kerry Hill Architects. He has won numerous awards, lished a foundation to build and run a medical clinic for children in the aftermath of the 2004
including the Singapore President’s Designer of the Year, the Singapore Institute of Archi- tsunami. In addition, the practice provided full architectural services for the clinic at no cost.
tects Building of the Year, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Gold Medal from the
Australian Institute of Architects, and the Order of Australia. Kerry Hill is matter-of-fact when he describes the way the studios operate:

Despite this impressive array of awards and honours, Hill is an unassuming man. Tall and As far as I’m concerned, we just go to work each day and try to produce good build-
patrician, an ex-Australian Rules Footballer, he bears its common legacy of bad knees. ings. We’re an informal office, quite social – and this flows over into the way we work.2
He often wears a Buddhist bracelet, a very different legacy, from the local temple near
Armitage Hill, his glorious working property in Sri Lanka. Like the kindly and dutiful Prince of The way the studio works is an important aspect of their resultant designs. Hill suggests
Salina from Lampedusa’s The Leopard, embracing local custom and obligations with that there is usually a single central idea generated for each project. This often comes
grace and understanding, Hill moves easily between the various poles of his life, quietly quickly and is then tested through a slow process that involves developing layers of in-
devoted to and highly respectful of local particularities. And this has been a distinguish- creasing levels of design resolution.
ing aspect of his architecture – he has learned from the local, adapting and developing his
own distinctive approach. Hill initiates and explores design solutions mainly through the use of simple small ideo-
grams drawn in blue pencil. He sees this technique as a mental exercise that allows ideas
to emerge. They are highly abstracted diagrams reduced to a very few lines that contain
the kernel of the central informing architectural idea and the ordering strategy to be used.
Kerry Hill Architects is one studio in two locations. The primary studio is in Singapore and Often, the diagram in plan appears to be interchangeable with the diagram in section and
a more recent second studio is a five-hour flight away, in Fremantle, Western Australia. is suggestive of how the architecture is to be assembled.
There is considerable cultural diversity among the employees, many of whom have trav-
elled across continents to work with Kerry Hill and have been with the practice for long The diagram for the Ogilvie House (20023), on Sunshine Beach in Queensland, is an ex-
periods of time. The office has nurtured a number of very good architects who have gone ample of how the very first idea for the house is described in blue pencil – a solid back wall
on to establish substantial careers. Two such past associates, Wong Mun Summ and turning its back to the neighbours, corners that support the contained space, opening the
Richard Hassell, wrote a citation for the Singapore President’s Designer of the Year in 2010, house up to the view and providing protection from cold south-easterly winds – and then
an Award won by Kerry Hill, in which they noted: realised in a final plan that is very closely related. IMAGES 1 & 2 Hill suggests that most of the
practice’s resolved plans are very close to their generative diagram.
The office had a healthy collegiate atmosphere and a great group of people, with the
result that debate raged, alternatives were pushed, and everyone critiqued everyone The early diagram is given to a colleague who then develops basic hard line drawings. Hill,
else’s work. It was great fun and also damn hard work. It was always about architec- whose computer skills are limited, sits with the employee and they explore rough massing
ture, architecture, architecture. At the time it seemed this atmosphere was natural to drawings which “do not normally show openings or materiality at this stage, they are like
an architectural practice, but after running our own firm, we have realized that such plasticine models, all one colour, just massing”.
an atmosphere must be created, and there is some alchemy required to consistent- 1
ly generate such commitment and passion from an always changing group of young From the massing renders, the sketch then starts to develop a life of its own:
architects. This magic dust came from Kerry, without doubt, and perhaps the single
greatest thing we learned from Kerry is that architecture has to sail above all else, and …to be layered with the additional ideas that come into play – materials, opening sizes,
if you believe this, somehow everyone, and everything else, comes along for the ride.1 proportions, how light enters the building, cross ventilation – all the things that make 3
a building. IMAGES 3 & 4
Kerry Hill has two practice partners. Justin Hill, related only by surname, joined Kerry Hill
in Singapore in 1981 and became a partner in 1990. A Tasmanian who studied archi- Projects that are not initiated by Hill’s blue pencil sketches start through a process of dis-
tecture in Adelaide, Justin is an active participant in all the practice projects but, with his cussion with a staff member, both of them throwing out suggestions, talking their way
strong background experience as a founding director of Singapore’s Theatreworks and through a design.
one of their leading set designers, was an important contributor to the design of the State
Theatre Centre in Perth. The other practice partner, Simon Cundy, studied architecture with The studio develops numerous full rendered drawings for their own internal use as design
Justin in Adelaide and is a highly skilled design documenter, able to bring design intentions tools that allow decisions to be reached. They have in-house professional renderers in
to built reality and, with this ability, has been a most effective mentor for young architects in Singapore and in Fremantle and while they work, Kerry Hill sits alongside them, asking for
helping them to resolve technical issues in both studios. Simon was invited to manage the changes in materials, proportions of openings, and testing options…
Fremantle studio after the practice won the State Theatre Centre competition. This proj- 4
ect brought together the skills of the three partners and they each performed a significant 2 It is rare for a design to undergo significant change once the direction has been set – in-
role in its delivery. stead, it is a continuous evolution from the earliest sketches. Competitions can be the ex-
ception but any real change of direction occurs very early in the design process.
Both Justin and Simon share Kerry’s great affection for Sri Lanka and, together, they have
recently bought and restored an early 19th century townhouse set on the ramparts of the
2 The cited quotes and recollections by Kerry Hill were recorded in a series of interviews conducted with
the author at Armitage Hill, Sri Lanka, in July 2011.
1 From the WOHA citation for President’s Design Award 2010, Designer of the Year. 3 All building dates in the text refer to the year of completion.

16 17
Physical models form a consistent and critical part of Hill’s way of working. Ken Lim is the 5 Although Hill’s architecture is clearly and deeply concerned with the traditional archi- 8
long-serving in-house model-maker and his exquisitely made working models provide the tectural poetics of space, light and materials, he is more comfortable talking about the
early means of testing the three-dimensional qualities of a project. Often, the models are pragmatic aspects of his buildings: “I would prefer to explain our architecture through
fragments, the ‘body parts of buildings’ and a number of models are made for a single proj- the experience of our buildings rather than through theoretical speculation. I think it
ect – for instance, 10 models were made for the ITC Sonar (2003) in Kolkata. IMAGES 5-7 is for others to explain and expose.” This book is an attempt to explain and expose.
In other instances, the model becomes a means of respecting or treasuring the design,
as in the Ogilvie House where the owner requested that his original model, more than ten
years old and slightly damaged, be repaired. Hill replaced it with a new model.

The resorts and hotels that comprised the early part of the practice’s work allowed Kerry STARTING OUT
Hill to work in a slow, deliberate way, unhurried by the normal demands of commercial
practice. It was a privileged position, hard-won, but challenged more recently by the re- 6 In 1971 Kerry Hill accepted a job in Hong Kong. He moved from a known and comfortable
quirements of the competitions they have entered. Nevertheless, design development (DD) life as a young architect in the suburb-dominated city of Perth, Western Australia, to work 9
is a stage of design that remains fully honoured in the studio, the stage during which the in the urban intensity of a large Asian city. At that time, Asia was widely regarded as the
design is realised in all its potential. As a result, the plans are refined and reworked through place that Australians flew over on their way to Europe.
numerous iterations to the point where they appear deceptively simple and can assume
a sense of inevitability. Detailing and materials selection undergoes a similarly rigorous It was a brave move, a life-changing move, motivated by the need to recover money lost in
process of refinement and paring back, ensuring that all aspects of the project closely an uncharacteristic weekend gamble on the stock market. It resulted in an enduring love
match the original intent of the design. This level of paring and refinement is a shuffling affair with Asia, triggered by the magical island of Bali.
towards order that assumes a level of abstraction, Modernist in source, with a concern
for continuity of space, the articulation of independent major elements of wall, opening, Chance and a willingness to create and be open to chance have continued to play an im-
screen, and roof, and a palette of very carefully resolved, minimalist details. portant role in Kerry Hill’s architectural and personal life. 10

Kerry Hill observes that

…in some countries you could build from our DD drawings. Our construction docu-
Hill’s early architectural education was in Perth, first at the Perth Technical College
ments are often notated DD drawings because a lot of our work is located elsewhere,
and subsequently at the newly established Faculty of Architecture at The University of
away from our home base and our consultants are often dispersed – lighting design-
Western Australia.
ers in Japan, structural engineers in Singapore, landscape architects in Lebanon, all
working on one project – so, we have to develop and coordinate all services into a
Hill valued being encouraged to develop an individual design approach as a student rath-
building before we commit the design to a set of ‘for-construction’ drawings.
er than being required to follow a prescribed direction. He points to evidence of his own
set of interests emerging in a 1967 project completed during his studies, an early testing
As part of the studio commitment to quality control, Hill spends considerable time on site
of design themes he still holds to be important. The design was for a shopping centre in
visits and, when this is not possible, has photographs emailed to keep him informed of
Broome, a characterful town in the tropical north of Western Australia, and the themes
site progress. The practice ensures that they have a significant presence on site during the
explored by Hill included the transformation of traditional building forms, the considered
course of a project’s construction.
juxtaposition of heavy and lightweight structure, and the use of building elements to medi-
ate climate. IMAGES 8-10

This understanding of the important role of his own early work and what it exposed com-
pels Hill always to ask to see the student work of those applying for positions in his studio.
Hill’s work is marked by a commitment to order and geometry, careful orchestration of He believes it is important for young architects to maintain a belief in their own early reac-
spatial sequence, use of the courtyard giving equal importance to interior and exterior 11
tions and suggests that if they don’t have any student work to show or if they consider it
space, refined detailing and selection of materials, strong control of light, and value given unimportant, he would not normally employ them.
to the experiential. Hill pursues the development of a simple but disciplined plan early in the
design process, allowing the focus then to move on to other aspects of the building. This 7 As a student Hill worked for Kierath and Waldron Architects, skilled designers known best
strategy arose from lessons learnt from Louis Kahn with his focus on the discipline of plan- for their clinker brick houses in Perth. Hill was allowed a free hand in the practice’s design
ning and, through that, his capacity to develop a pervasive spatial order. Hill also admires of additions to the Redemptorist Monastery in North Perth, a carefully controlled composi-
Kahn’s ability to manipulate materials and light, to link the modern with the archaic, and tion in off-form concrete and deep panels of clinker brick. IMAGE 11
the way he was able to distil complex building programs into strong simple forms. If Kahn
is the most constant and pervasive influence for Hill, others are willingly acknowledged: Le Hill met Jeffrey Howlett at the bar in the Adelphi Hotel where the well-known architect was
Corbusier in the strength of his original ideas and the fidelity to those ideas, Mies van der a regular and larger-than-life figure. Subsequently, after graduation, Hill joined Howlett and
Rohe in the abstraction of his planning and pursuit of simplified forms; Frank Lloyd Wright Bailey Architects, a practice that was formed as a result of their winning the 1961 competi-
in his focus on clearly defined hierarchical axes and the layered, overlapping massing. And tion to design Council House, a refined, astutely planned glass prism enfolded in distinctive
all of these architects share with Hill a willingness to allow their work to be enriched by T-shaped sunshades, and hoisted above the ground by marble-clad beams and columns.
understanding and embracing architectural traditions of Asia. Hill’s work, calm and serene, At the time of its construction it was a civic emblem of Perth with its optimism, its moder-
is a sophisticated hybrid of the West and the East. nity, and its future. IMAGE 12

18 19
Two hotels for GHM, hotel managers of the Datai, followed in Indonesia: the compact mod- 32 extensive use of the courtyard for this purpose but have also drawn on the courtyard as a 35
ern forms developed for the Chedi, Bandung (1994) on Java IMAGE 30 and the linear village- means of creating another, idealised, world. The form has also been utilised as a sophisti-
like complex in Ubud (1996) on Bali. IMAGE 31 These two projects made less overt reference cated device for negotiating both cultural and physical differences. Its use as a mediating
to traditional forms and are suggestive of what followed in the next phase of Hill’s work. mechanism contributes significantly to a remarkable architectural consistency in the work
The Bandung planning and the resultant forms bear a close relationship to the early work of the practice despite the wide variety of climatic zones, geographic locations, and pro-
of Frank Lloyd Wright, with the hotel designed in the manner of an expanded Prairie House. gram requirements.

These were important early projects for Hill, establishing a repertoire of forms and The traditional Chinese courtyard house forms the basis of the design for the villa suites of
approaches to the designing of resorts and hotels. These design strategies are further the Lalu (2002), a hotel on a spectacularly steep site overlooking Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan.
developed in three substantial projects in India, Dubai and Taiwan. The rooms and courtyards are formed into walled compounds and arranged in a manner
quite different from the Dubai suites: there is an absence here of symmetrical order, there
The ITC Sonar (2003) is an urban oasis intended by the client to contribute to the re- 33 is the provision of substantial fireplaces because of the cold, and there are more intimate
establishment of Kolkata to its former place as the most modern city in Asia. IMAGE 32. and hidden courtyard spaces. IMAGE 35 The buildings for the hotel were cut into the cliff
Nevertheless, the expectation was for a hotel in the grand Victorian manner and it took face which was deepened into a ravine and the resulting volume is used as a spectacular
nearly two years to convince the client otherwise. non-air-conditioned circulation space. IMAGE 36

Kolkata has a rich heritage of colonial buildings which are seen by Kerry Hill as a para- The commission for the Lalu came about as a result of the owner having stayed earlier
digm for building in the tropics, offering a balanced juxtaposition of heavy and lightweight at Amanusa and, although it did not come to pass, he had every expectation of his hotel
elements, both containing and opening up. He has sought to modernise this in the ITC also sporting a Balinese thatch roof. As a postscript, following the recent 10th anniversary
Sonar while also drawing on climate mediating devices and local construction technique celebrations for the Lalu, Hill produced this ‘after dinner’ sketch for the owner, an encap-
and craft traditions. For example, the louvres, GRC pigmented with brick dust, were made sulation of the key architectural elements of the hotel:
in Bengal and have a rustic quality of hand crafted building technique rather than the
precision of the terracotta version made in Europe. These local versions were also one
third of the cost. IMAGE 33 36

Hill makes the point that the luxury experienced in his projects comes from their spatial
quality and ‘generosity of spirit’.

Double-layered screens provide an ever-changing quality of light entering the interiors and,
similarly, the gold leafed decorative interior screens transform throughout the day and night
in response to lighting conditions. Large planes of white walls with small openings, the use
of brise soleils, diagonal ramps, curved space and overhanging parasol roofs are all remi-
niscent of Le Corbusier and his legacy in India. But layered onto these references is a rich
use of materials, a confidence in forming generous volumes and their interconnections,
a crispness in detailing that acknowledges local limitations, and a robust set of formal
juxtapositions that carry the clearly emerging stamp of the practice.

Desert Palm (2002) in Dubai was to be an expansive resort complex developed from the Amankora (2004-7) comprises five Aman lodges built in the remarkable setting and unique
Bedouin client’s passion for horses. Courtyards, water and geometry, were the recurring 34
culture of the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. The design and construction of these lodges
elements in the planning, while, for Hill, the limited palette of “blank walls, a few open- was a labour of love for the studio spread across almost 15 years. Kerry Hill selected each
ings, a screen, and a source of water or a reflection pool”, cued the formal approach. of the sites, assisted with government approvals, designed the buildings, their interiors and
Forty houses and one prototype hotel suite were completed before the project was pre- furniture, and provided on-site supervising architects.
maturely halted.
The government is strongly committed to the retention of the uniqueness of Bhutanese
Throughout the Dubai project the courtyard is the key architectural element. Courtyard culture and has clear requirements that all new buildings respond closely to the traditional
volumes are used compositionally as a critical part of the plan organization process and to forms, specifying such details as opening sizes and decorative elements.
establish hierarchical relations between forms. In this project the use of the courtyard links
directly to Islamic precedents as a moderator of climate and a refuge from the harsh exterior. The practice has worked with the utmost respect for these requirements and designed a
set of simple almost austere components that are assembled in response to the demands
The hotel suite that was built is rich in ideas and form, a test bed for later Kerry Hill projects. of the selected site and the project brief. The resultant lodges are calm and monastic,
Contained within a square of high walls, the highly controlled geometry of the plan carves Bhutanese in form and spirit. IMAGES 37-38
the space into private and shared courtyards of shade, dappled sunlight, water and stone
– an oasis of earthly paradise. IMAGE 34 The traditional mud building technique is replaced by the use of earthquake resistant and
maintenance-free stabilised earth, the technical skills of which were learned from Giles
The use of the courtyard in Kerry Hill’s work has been developed as a consistent Hohnen who had initiated and refined this form of construction in the Margaret River region of
architectural strategy. Most pragmatically, the courtyard has provided the means to create Western Australia. So tradition is retained in the material selection but transformed technically.
a controlled climatic environment in extreme climatic areas. Many Hill projects have made

28 29
The Amankora experience extends over the five lodges and their distinctive settings and is 37 NEW BUILDING TYPES 40
linked by a single road across the breadth of Bhutan providing guests with a highly privi-
leged introduction to this astonishing land-locked, mountainous country. Though based in Singapore, the practice’s work had been mostly located elsewhere. Gen-
esis, a mixed use building completed in 1997 on the site of the architects’ early studio
Located in the heart of the Indian capital, the Aman New Delhi (2009) is a mix of hotel and space on busy Bukit Timah Road, attracted considerable local attention for Hill. Genesis
apartments. The complex is rigorously orthogonal in its planning and in the classical ar- was designed to a tight developer’s budget as a contemporary version of the four tradition-
rangement of its spare, trabeated walls that are opposed to large planar walls of Gangapur al Singapore shop houses it replaced, with the section and plan working together cleverly
stone. This complex also has the feel of a re-occupied ancient ruin with the later insertion in a series of interlocking volumes.
of glass reinforced concrete (GRC) screens in the tall spaces between the closely centred
columns. These screens respond to local climatic conditions in providing filtered light and The building envelope – height, form, plan, and section – is all in accordance with Singapore
allowing natural ventilation, but they also refer to the traditional Jali and take advantage of Urban Redevelopment Authority planning guidelines. These guidelines imposed a set of tight re-
a successful local GRC industry. IMAGE 39 strictions that Hill had not dealt with before. Nevertheless, the design was strongly informed by 41
38 the previous resort work and the well-practised responses to location, tradition, and materials.

This discussion of resorts designed by Kerry Hill has been partial – there are others built and In re-evaluating a local building type, Genesis was a project that engaged with urban cul-
unbuilt that form skilful variations on the approaches outlined. In the early work, architectural tural issues. The design incorporated the deep light wells and ventilation shafts of tradition-
themes emerge that remain in the later work. Projects like the Beaufort Sentosa in Singapore al shop houses and introduced a modern interpretation of the external screen – a filter of
(1991) and the Amanusa in Bali (1992) adopt the forms of their host culture, stripped of spe- light and noise and a controller of airflow and outlook. The large, operable timber screens,
cific cultural reference but responsive to location, climatic conditions, local construction skills contained within a carefully composed steel structural grid, cover the top four floors of
and availability of materials. Steeply pitched pavilion roofs – hipped and often thick-thatched, Genesis, boldly forming the dominant legible surface of the building. IMAGE 40
42
deep verandas, shaded walkways, large shallow pools of water, all assembled in formal axial
arrangements, mark this early work. Apart from the hotels in India, these resorts are invariably This building introduced a new repertoire for Hill: designing for the urban commercial
in beautiful, exotic locations and have been widely regarded as part of an architectural lineage condition and the design of housing.
initiated by Geoffrey Bawa and Peter Muller. This can be recognised in a shared response to
location through climatic strategies, the use of materials, and the form of construction used. The Singapore Cricket Association Pavilion (1999) IMAGE 41 and the entrance plaza to the
Singapore Zoological Gardens (2003) were other important projects in the evolution of the
The design concerns were embedded within the rarefied genre of the luxury resort in iso- practice because of their civic dimension and also because of the use of more abstracted
lated locations, removed from the complexity of urban settings and the architectural issues and consciously sculpted forms.
which that condition generates.
The Zoo entrance plaza, a striking tropical place of welcome and orientation, uses elements
For a period, the resort work formed the entirety of the practice and Hill reflected on how familiar from the resorts – the arrival portico, an organising courtyard, a reflection pool, and
this work affected their way of designing: colonnaded walkways to provide legibility and shelter – but they are rearranged and enlarged
to perform the public roles of ceremonial marker and gatherer and distributor of people.
We developed an approach to planning that centred on the spatial qualities of our
buildings. It was about breaking down the overall mass. The planning started to In the same year that Genesis was built, the studio completed the Cluny Hill House (1997) in
simplify, to become more disciplined, to set up hierarchies of function and spatial 39 Singapore, the first of the practice’s individual houses and the beginning of a recurring and
sequence. As our belief in the value of open space strengthened, our ability to control productive engagement with houses. As with the tropical resorts, the Cluny Hill House was de- 43
its varied qualities increased. We arrived at a point in resort design where we knew signed as a series of one-room deep pavilions that allow for cross-ventilation and arranged to
how a resort functioned in every respect, and weren’t therefore troubled with this form a contained compound of protected courtyards. Hill pursued this design with the intent of
issue – we knew we could make it work. This gave us the design freedom to put things making it a contemporary version of the pre-war black-and-white colonial houses in Singapore,
together in a number of different ways – and to focus on the architecture. I couldn’t do the house type which had proven over time to be successfully responsive to the local climate.
it with a hospital – it comes with the experience of a building type. The house is now demolished, having made way for a much larger house designed by others.

The resort projects enabled the practice to develop a range of ideas and approaches, to For the same client, the practice completed the Ooi House (1997) in Margaret River, Western
refine and distil to the point where these ideas have become robust and widely applica- Australia. Marking a return to Australia, this was Hill’s first work there since the Brisbane hotel
ble, resistant now to a single building type, accommodating and adaptable to a variety of was completed in 1990. IMAGE 42 Very different from the Cluny Hill House, the Ooi House
settings. The resorts allowed the time to test, develop, and gain confidence in design comprises two parallel pavilions. The northern pavilion, of steel and glass, contains the living
decisions and the making of spaces. They also allowed the development of a way of spaces and has a large skillion roof opened up to the northern sun, cooling summer breez-
working; a process of design, that has clearly affected the formal resolution and clarity es, and wonderful views of a National Park. The southern pavilion is built of stabilised earth,
of the practice’s subsequent buildings. turning its back on the cold south-westerly winds, and contains the bedrooms. It was this
experience with stabilised earth that motivated its use in the Bhutan Aman lodges.
But, as Hill observed, “…when you have completed one hotel and then a second, all of a
sudden you are perceived as a specialist and hotels then become the work of the practice.” The Mirzan House (1999) in Kuala Lumpur is, in many respects, a mini resort, a tranquil and
It would have been easy for Hill to continue in the trajectory of ever more refined resort ar- ordered oasis; a powerful contrast to the jungle beyond. The principal organising device
chitecture, but he was determined to challenge himself through broader engagement and is a long shaded spine, a ‘promenade architecturale,’ flanked by a black granite reflection
deeper testing. pool that runs the length of the spine and helps with cooling. IMAGE 43

30 31
The Ogilvie House (2002) at Sunshine Beach in Queensland is set high above the beach. 44 Ironically, Hill had contributed to the design for a development on the same site while 47
Three sides form a buffer to the outside world, bordering the stepped platform of the large working with Howlett and Bailey in Perth thirty-five years earlier. Neither project went ahead.
living space, a space that is many spaces, rich in its ambiguities between the bound-
aries of inside and outside, between covered and uncovered, and offering close and After the Multiplex competition, Kerry Hill Architects entered and won a two-stage
distant views of water from the fourth side. It is a space of great calm, which, like an competitive process run by the University of New South Wales for the design of their
instrument, is able to be tuned in response to a specific living purpose and weather condition. new overseas campus in Singapore (2005). IMAGE 48 The practice was to have con-
This house, generated from an acute sensitivity to the particular conditions of place is, like tributed to the development of the masterplan through a major building commission
Genesis, a well-resolved exercise in the volumetric complexity that underpins later and and then have ongoing involvement in the commissioning of other architects on the
larger work. IMAGE 44 campus. The project was fully documented and piling had started on the site when the
University decided not to proceed – this was regarded by Hill as an enormous lost
The Garlick Avenue House (2005) is, in many respects, a Singapore version of the opportunity for the studio.
Sunshine Beach house, but without the ocean view. Instead, it establishes a peaceful trop-
ical sanctuary, a calm refuge for its owners who lead intense working lives. The formal and Because the University of NSW project consumed, for an extended period, so much of
functional composition is an essay in refined control, a distillation of Kerry Hill’s search to the practice’s time, Hill had almost decided not to enter the competition for CentreStage
reinvent his themes and strategies for architecture in tropical settings. IMAGE 45 48
(2005), the new State Theatre complex in Perth. But the prospect was too compelling
– a competition for a cultural building in his home city and with the chance to utilise the
Apartment blocks have provided the scale to enable a number of the experiments con- 45 considerable theatre expertise of his practice partner, Justin Hill.
ducted in the houses to be further developed. The three-dimensional complexity of the
Ogilvie House is extended in the Soi 53 Apartments in Bangkok (2004). IMAGE 46 As with The two-stage international competition was sponsored by the State Government of
the house, generous and interlocked internal volumes are contained in a series of orthogo- Western Australia, with the first stage open and anonymous. Kerry Hill Architects won
nal screened boxes. The tropical devices used in the Garlick Avenue House are also used the second stage, giving them a perfect record of three competition entries and three
here, but extended further in the way they are ordered and honed to form a tropical jewel wins. This project, however, was the first to be built (2010).
of a building with soft filtered light, water reflections, and induced air movement. These
factors, together with the carefully controlled geometry and limited selection of natural The distinguishing aspect of the practice’s design is the stacking of the two theatres on
materials, have produced an architecture of great calm. 46
top of one another. This strategy has released area on the tight corner site for an out-
door performance space and, internally, created considerable performance flexibility
The early houses and apartment blocks were valuable projects for the practice, forming through the adjacency of the black box theatre and the main rehearsal space, which
test beds for a range of design ideas and strategies that have been developed subse- are linked through large acoustic sliding doors. The design engages with its setting
quently in larger projects of different building types. Hill has recognised the important role in the way it layers a series of abstract boxes that increase in scale from the two-sto-
that the houses have performed over the years and, although houses rarely make busi- rey street fronts to the white illuminated fly tower in the centre of the site, intended as
ness sense for the practice, he has made a conscious decision to have at least one house the glowing heart of the Perth Cultural Centre. IMAGE 49 The new complex is carefully 49
in the studio at any one time. inserted into the existing heritage buildings that were required to be retained, with a tall
folded black steel entrance canopy to the corner, a tough urban addition to what has
These projects, together with a more direct engagement with the city, were critical in the been a tough neighbourhood.
evolution of design work within the practice.
The complex has been embraced in Perth as a major cultural addition to the city, both in
terms of its state-of-the-art theatre facilities and the urbane architecture that provides a
COMPETITIONS new civic benchmark.

Resorts and hotels provided Kerry Hill with a reliable consistency of work and a vehicle As a result of winning the State Theatre the practice was invited to enter a limited com-
through which he was able to develop a way of designing and an approach to architecture petition for the Darat King Abdullah II Performing Arts Centre in Amman, Jordan. IMAGE
that formed the base for all of the work that has followed. 50 This invitation signalled a move by the studio into the new waters of European com-
petitions and an introduction to several major European architectural practices. Kerry Hill
Continuing his determination to broaden the practice and engage with more civic and Architects was the only non-European practice invited to enter and, for Kerry Hill, it was
illuminating to learn how the competition process works in Europe and how pervasive 50
public work, Hill decided to enter the risky world of competitions. The practice has enjoyed
a high success rate and winning the competition for the State Theatre in Perth enabled a it has become. He observed that the architects are well remunerated for entering and
return to Australia with the establishment of a full studio in Fremantle. that competitions form a key and programmed part of their practice. It was also inter-
esting for Hill to note that, while his practice took its cues from local forms and materials,
The involvement with competitions was initiated by the large Perth-based construction the Europeans used the competition as a means of continuing the development of their
company, Multiplex, when they invited a pairing of Australian and international architectur- current architectural preoccupations. The competition created, for Hill, ‘a real edginess’
al practices to enter a limited competition for the development of the Ocean Beach Hotel and the chance, as a result of attending joint briefings and staying in the same hotel in
site in Cottesloe, Western Australia. Kerry Hill Architects won the competition (2001) in as- Jordan, of establishing new architectural friendships. As Hill acknowledges, “…the expe-
sociation with Architectus. The mixed use project proposed a new beachside destination rience of competing against five of Europe’s top architects was worth every minute of it.”
for this Perth coastal suburb. IMAGE 47 Appropriate to its beachside location, the unit de-
signs provided an adjustable exterior skin through the use of screens, allowing modulation Zaha Hadid won this competition but, as a result of his participation, un-envisaged op-
of both climate and privacy. portunities were created for Kerry Hill. Because of a strongly favourable reception to their

32 33
Footprints

‘The most unifying strategy in our work is the plan.

Our plans have their roots in Modernism on the one hand

and in ancient precedents on the other, where the plan is
often derived from an idealised diagram of spatial order.’

Kerry Hill
 MIZRAN HOUSE INGEMAR GARLICK AVENUE HOUSE

GENESIS

ARMITAGE HILL

OGILVIE HOUSE AMELEAN HOUSE

DESERT PALM

CLUNY HILL HOUSE MARTIN NO. 38

SMORGON HOUSE SOI 53 APARTMENTS ELLERSTON

OOI HOUSE TAN SRI CHUA RESIDENCE LOT 5 WALLCLIFFE AMANBADU LA ALGARRABOSA

42 43
Selected Works
1992 – 2012

The Datai 48
Genesis 54
Ooi House 62
Cluny Hill House 72
Mirzan House 80
Singapore Cricket Association Pavilion 86
The Lalu 92
ITC Sonar 108
Desert Palm 128
Ogilvie House 138
Singapore Zoo Entrance Plaza 148
Soi 53 Apartments 156
Bhutan and Amankora 166
Amankora Paro 168
Amankora Thimpu 176
Amankora Punakha 184
Amankora Gangtey 188
Amankora Bumthang 196
The Chedi Chiang Mai 204
Garlick Avenue House 214
The Aman New Delhi 222
State Theatre Centre of Western Australia 232
Ellerston 256
Hayman Island House 262
The Sukhothai Residences 274
Amelean House 282
Ingemar 288
Martin No. 38 Show Gallery 300
Martin No. 38 302
Campbell House 312
Amanbadu 318
La Algarrabosa 326
Cluny Hill Singapore This page, above: Large sliding
screens open to a reflecting
1996-1997
pool. Below: Operable screens

House modulate natural light and

ventilation within the living space.
Right: Sections.

Opposite: The architecture is a

balanced juxtaposition of masonry
and timber elements.

The Cluny Hill House was conceived as a contemporary version of the pre-
war Singapore black-and-white colonial ‘bungalow’, a house type which has
proven over time to be well adapted to the equatorial climate. Like the black-
and-whites, Cluny Hill combines a heavy base with a lightweight upper floor
and a one room deep plan that is designed to maximise cross-ventilation.
The house consists of two pavilions set perpendicular to one another, a ser-
vice block and a small pool building placed within a terraced plaza. Together
they form a sequence of sheltered courtyards offering controlled views and
creating a naturally tempered environment.
Timber screens provide the means for mediating contact with the outside
world. On the lower floor they slide to reveal openings set in masonry walls
while upstairs the screens pivot on a horizontal axis with the assistance of a
pneumatic hinging system to reveal a continuous strip of adjustable glazing.
Terracotta paving tiles are laid flush on inclined planes to form the large hip
roofs of the pavilions.
The house was recently demolished to make way for a denser housing
development.

72 73
 Opposite: An angled ramp adds This page, above right: The changing Following Spread: The stairs,
ceremony to the journey of the rooms open onto the covered social tiered seating, bar and ramp are
batsman to the crease. space. Below right: Timber screens treated as sculptural elements
provide privacy, natural light and placed on or against the raised
Legend: 1) Open pavilion, ventilation to the changing rooms. rectangular podium.
2) Snack bar, 3) Umpire Changing Above left: Floor plan. Middle left:
room, 4) Changing room. Section through the pavilion. Below
left: Southwest elevation.

3 3

88 Singapore Cricket Association Pavilion 89

 Opposite, above: Aerial view of This page, left: The retail space is
the study model from the northwest. a timber-clad box, inserted into the
Below: Close-up of study model arrival concourse. Right: The arrival
showing the arrival concourse. area is a balanced juxtaposition of
timber, stone and glass elements.

96 The Lalu 97
 Opposite: Interior view of the lobby lounge.

This page, left: The internal screen for

the lobby lounge is plywood gilded with
gold leaf. Right: The appearance of the
screen is transformed by the changing
light during the course of the day and night.

120 ITC Sonar 121

 Opposite: The space is rich in This page: The house is entered
ambiguities - between inside and through a gallery at the lower level.
outside, floor and water, covered and
uncovered, open and enclosed.

146 Ogilvie House 147

Bhutan and Bhutan Opposite, above: Amankora may This page, above: View to the
be considered as one project in five Himalayas. Below left: Wangdue
2002-2007 locations. The remote lodges are Phodrang Dzong. Below right: A

Amankora connected by a single road. Below:

The corridor in the Punakha Dzong.
traditional Bhutanese farmhouse.

construction, using either stone or rammed earth, depending on their

location and, where possible, they are largely devoid of decoration. The
buildings are simple, at times monastic.
We have replaced the local rammed mud with reinforced stabilized earth
structures that are eartHQuake resistant and maintenance free. Here,
tradition is technically transformed but the material connection is re-
tained. But only just. On a flight into Bhutan I sat next to an important
Lama (a Rimpoche), who was also the director of the National Archives.
He asked what I was doing there. I told him and he replied “Ah yes, I’ve
been to see your earth walls, they are very beautiful. But tell me, do you
have to use those mechanical rammers.” I told him I thought so and he
replied – that’s no good for Bhutan because traditionally, the women of
the village compact the mud with their feet while singing and chanting
traditional songs – that is how Bhutanese folklore is perpetuated. I felt
very uncomfortable and rang a contractor in Perth immediately after we
landed. He said it would be ok, but you can’t afford to do it in Australia. I
told the Lama with a sigh of relief.
The interiors are lined with plywood – a box within a box. One lodge
Bhutan is a small Himalayan Kingdom bounded by Tibet to the north includes the restoration of a traditional Bhutanese farmhouse. Our only
and Assam to the south. Sikkim lies to the west. It is roughly the size of intervention here is to place furniture designed in our office within the old
Switzerland, has a population of around 700,000 people and mountains that building. New buildings are of rammed earth to differentiate what is old
rise to 7,300 m. It is also the only remaining country in the world in which and what is new.
Mahayana Buddhism is the official state religion – and it is culturally unique. In all, the Bhutan project has been difficult but rewarding. Not least of
In Bhutan, as in many rural societies, there are really only two traditional all because it has taken 12 or more years. There is great temptation to
building types, religious, in this case fortified monasteries, and domes- abstract the essence of what one feels to be Bhutanese in spirit rather
tic, which are mostly farmhouses made by the people who live in them. than what is seen as being Bhutanese. The government however is clear
The architecture can be both decorative and beautifully simple. in its directive that all buildings must look Bhutanese and this is to be
We have designed six small lodges across the country ranging from 8 to 24 taken literally, through written guidelines, complete with opening sizes
rooms each. I personally selected the building sites over a period of 7 years and decorative elements. So our buildings are able to push the bounda-
and construction is now complete at five locations. ries in only a small way here. For now, perhaps that’s better for Bhutan.
We have designed a set of standard components that manifest in plan ac-
cording to site and program. Their roof form adopts the traditional 11-degree Kerry Hill
pitch, common to all Bhutanese buildings. They are built in thick, mass wall September 2010

166 167
This page, above left: Level 1 Opposite, above: Public spaces and Legend: 1) Drop off, 2) Forest walk,
floor plan. Above right: Level 2 guestrooms are housed in a singular 3) Arrival court, 4) Living, 5) Dining,
floor plan. Below: View of the building form. Below, left: Section. 6) Kitchen, 7) Guest gallery,
lodge upon arrival from the forest. 8) Guestroom, 9) Back of house,
Below, right and following spread: 10) Staff accommodation,
The living room offers magnificent 11) Service courtyard,
views of the valley. 12) Service walkway.

8 8 8 8 8 8 4 5

7 7 6

12 2

9 10

11

9
1 1

190 Amankora Gangtey 191

 Opposite: Suites are reached by a This page: Light and views
75 metre long stone-walled gallery. are admitted through carefully
composed slot openings.

200 Amankora Bumthang 201

This page, left: Filtered light Opposite: Each guest suite has a
animates the main colonnade. private plunge pool within a two-
Above right: A guest suite veranda. storey high volume.
Below right: Jali screens are cast
in glass reinforced concrete.

228 The Aman New Delhi 229

This spread: Street elevation.

238 State Theatre Centre of Western Australia 239

This spread: The acoustic design of
the main theatre relies entirely upon
direct sound-reflectance. The warm
timber paneled surfaces that line the
body of the auditorium preform a
vital acoustic function.

248 State Theatre Centre of Western Australia 249

This spread: The main theatre
foyer at night.

244 State Theatre Centre of Western Australia 245

This page, above: Level 3 floor plan. Legend: 1) Path to pool pavilion,
Middle: Level 2 floor plan. 2) Pool terrace, 3) Loggia, 4) Kitchen,
Below: Level 1 floor plan. 5) Outdoor shower, 6) Change room,
7) Sauna, 8) Steam room,
Opposite: Study model. 9) Massage room, 10) Gym,
11) Gallery, 12) Pool, 13) Terrace,
14) Bedroom, 15) Ensuite,
16) Enclosed Terrace.

16 13

9
15
14
13 1

4
3
6
7
8
5
9
2 11
10

258 Ellerston 259

 This page: The space between the
apartment façade and the brise-
soleil is inhabited with shading
devices and balconies.

Opposite, above: From the porte-

cochère a portal frames an axial
view of the colonnade. Below:
Daylight penetrates the parking
basement through incisions in the
ground plane.

278 The Sukhothai Residences 279

 Opposite: White glass screens the
pool pavilion.

This page: The pool pavilion

appears to float jewel-like above
the lotus pond.

280 The Sukhothai Residences 281

Amelean Colombo, Sri Lanka
2007-2010

House

The Amelean House is located in the leafy Cinnamon Gardens suburb of Co-
lombo. The client’s brief was for a ‘house within a house’. The greater house
includes entertaining areas, a study, a reception area and bedrooms for visit-
ing guests and children. A more private, inner area includes the rooms re-
quired for daily family life. As a result the house possesses the contained and
intimate feel of an apartment when the parents are alone but can be opened
up to host larger gatherings.
The plan is organised around three courtyards; a garden, a pond and a
paved motor court. The motor court is to the rear of the house and is ac-
cessed via a laneway with the entrance provided by a porte cochère. The
public areas of the house; living, dining and guestrooms are placed around
the garden court and are linked with a covered veranda that is furnished for
entertaining. The water court is the heart of the private family area around
which are arranged the family room, kitchen and master suite with a private
veranda for sitting by the pond.
The spatial experience of the house can be radically transformed by opening
the walls of the dining and family rooms, allowing long multi-layered views
between the garden and the water courts, linking interior and exterior in one
expansive ground-plane.
The building section and structure helps to differentiate the character of
these two courtyards. The roof of traditional Sinhalese clay tiles slopes down
into the water court where the height of the low eaves is a key to the intimate
feeling of the space. Conversely, the high point of the roof dictates the eleva-
tion to the garden, which appears as a six metre high masonry wall giving
impressive proportions to this more public area. Within the garden court a
crisply detailed two storey ironwood-clad box containing the guestrooms
forms a softer counterpoint.

This page: Detail of the ironwood

screen to the guest pavilion.

Opposite, above: The elevation to

Gower Street. Below: The timber-
screened guest pavilion has its own
distinct identity.

282 283
Legend: 1) Entry, 2) Porte-cochère, 11) Dry kitchen, 12) Wet kitchen, Opposite, left: Study model. This page, above: View of the
3) Side entry, 4) Living, 5) Study, 13) Wash room, 14) Laundry, Above right: Section. Middle guest pavilion from the roof of the
6) Guest suite, 7) Courtyard, 15) Master suite, 16) Veranda, right: Upper floor plan. Below main house. Below: The water
8) Media room. 9) Dining, 17) Staff, 18) Service, right: Ground floor plan. court is the heart of the family area.
10) Family room, 19) Guard house.

18

17 17

19
2

13 12 11 3 4 5
8
14
1

9
7 6

15 16 10

284 Amelean House 285

This spread: The living
and dining areas extend to
verandas that are centred on
the garden court.

286 Amelean House 287

Ingemar Margaret River, Western Australia Opposite: The house is a
composition of horizontal planes
2007-2012
and simple timber-clad boxes.

This page: The entrance and

study pavilion.

Ingemar is set within four hectares of pristine bushland with views towards
the Margaret River. Total immersion within this rich and ever-changing natu-
ral environment was the overriding objective for the design.
The house has five discreet living areas and associated courtyards. The liv-
ing spaces are simple timber-clad boxes, laid gently upon the topography to
create a dispersed plan in which rooms have the feeling of being surrounded
by nature and the life of the bush can weave freely across the site.
Each courtyard has a different character that amplifies the varying qualities
of day and season. Deep, screened verandas expand the living spaces into
the surrounding landscape, blurring the edges of the architecture. Where
the ground falls away from the house to the north, the living areas become
elevated, placing the occupants at the level of the surrounding tree canopy
and permitting views of the river beyond. A remote split-level guest pavilion
within the trees offers a place of retreat for visiting family and friends.

288 289
 Opposite and above: The
guest pavilion stands alone but
is physically connected to the
main house. Below left: A guest
bedroom. Below right: Shuttered
openings to guest pavilion.

298 Ingemar 299

‘In the tropics, there are many overcast and dull days,
so our aim is not to e clude the sun, but to invite it in,
through a series of filters.’

Kerry Hill
 4
8 8 8 8 9

7 10
3 2

Opposite, above: Study for the

mosque interior. Below left: The
1
6 freeform lines of the plaza contrast
with the order inherent in the
6
11 planning of the campus. Below
5 6
centre: Composition study of the
theatre centre entry. Below right:
The shaded colonnade alongside
the theatre.

This page, above: Study model

of the theatre centre and mosque,
plan. Middle: Section through
cultural centre. Below: Cultural
centre floor plan.

Legend: 1) Entry court, 2) Foyer,

3) Main theatre, 4) Museum & shop,
5) Gallery, 6) Sand model theatre,
7) Court, 8) Computer laboratory,
9) Iman’s residence, 10) Minaret,
11) Mosque.

346 Royal Military Academy Jordan 347

 8 6 8

1 8

2
8 8
8

4 3
Above: Guestrooms are distributed in Legend: 1) Porte-cochère,
three low corten-clad blocks, resting 2) Main entrance lobby, 3) French
7 upon a stone base that contains the restaurant, 4) Stone garden,
5
9 public functions. 5) Lobby lounge, 6) Retail block,
7) Water lounge below, 8) Guest
This page, below: Level 4 floor plan. 8 8
suite block, 9) Main swimming
Opposite, below left: Level 7 floor pool below.
plan. Below right: Level 11 floor plan.

350 The Lalu Qingdao 351

City of Perth Perth, Western Australia
2011-2015

Library and Plaza

This competition-winning design will be built on a complex urban site above

an existing parking basement, adjacent to some of Perth’s finest heritage
buildings. Responding to this context, the building is cylindrical in form. The
upper profile is defined by a diagonal truncation that allows winter sun to en-
ter the public plaza and gives the library an appropriate scale as it addresses
the heritage buildings. The cylindrical form allows an architectural reading
of the building as a discrete object; a new contribution to the surrounding
urban milieu.
The library façade, of glass panels and stone fins, is at once solid and trans-
parent, reinforcing the civic qualities of the building while providing a light-
ness and delicacy to the form. At the ground level, this hybrid stone and
glass skin peels away to reveal a transparent entry foyer visually connected
to the street and the plaza.
The main public staircase wraps the perimeter of the cylindrical volume, be-
tween the building skin and main collection floors. At the core of the building
is the triple-height reading room. This screened volume receives filtered sun-
light across the collection floor galleries. The main collection floors become
quieter and more scholarly at the upper levels. The uppermost floor opens
onto a generous terrace which has views to the public plaza and the heritage
buildings to the south. The children’s library occupies the fifth level and is ar-
ranged around a double-height winter garden, the central element of which
is a single tree – a reference to idealized origins of storytelling below a tree
in the shade. The interior is characterised by warm timbers and filtered light,
reinforcing the atmosphere of quiet reflection.

This page: Solar study showing sunlight

penetration into the public plaza.

Opposite: Study model.

356 357
Desert Resort Qatar
Unbuilt, 2011

1 7

10
8

2
9

The client’s aim with this ambitious project is to create a destination resort on
a remote and pristine peninsula. The topography of the site is gently undulat- 4
ing desert which becomes more rugged at the coastline and is interrupted
by brooqs, wind-sculpted structures of eroded sandstone. The masterplan
responds to this powerful site with an equally powerful idea – that of creat-
ing contained, subterranean worlds, pure geometrical shapes inscribed into
the desert with stone retaining walls. Three large circular oases form the
spa, the hotel and a botanical garden. Water and greenery, contained in this
way, are not squandered but are used sustainably to create a rich sensory
environment. The surrounding earth cools naturally while screens, canopies
and narrow streets provide shade.
From these oases, paths lead to a series of villas and suites which follow the
arc of the coastal dunes, each unit enjoying unobstructed sea views. The
dune contours are manipulated where necessary to conceal these buildings
from view and shelter them from the sand-laden desert winds.
This page, above left: Natural daylight
The three oases are linked by narrow, excavated streets which come togeth- penetrates the hamam. Below: Studio site
er in a central plaza. Providing shade and shelter during the day, this plaza visit. Above: Masterplan.

will come alive under the night sky with performances, dining and markets, Legend: 1) Entrance and visitor centre,
creating a sense of community within the emptiness of the desert. 2) Public square, 3) Hotel and spa,
4) Hotel guest suites, 5) 4-star resort,
6) 4-star guestrooms, 7) Beach chalets,
8) Botanic gardens, 9) Mosque, 10) Staff
accommodation.

Opposite, above: The swimming pool

creates a visual link to the landscape
beyond the hotel wall. Below left:
Forms are inspired by the wind-sculpted
landscape. Below right: Native meadow
grasses help to stabilize the coastal dunes.

368 369
This page, above: View towards the Opposite, above: Model of the hotel
village centre and mosque. Below with botanic gardens beyond. Below:
left: The mosque is a calm rectilinear A narrow street leads to the botanic
volume, with a single low-level slot gardens from the village centre.
window framing a sea view. Below
right: Section through mosque.

370 Desert Resort 371

This page, above left: Model of Opposite, above: Sunlight, often
the hotel above and below ground. filtered through the water above, creates
Above right: Axonometric study atmospheric subterranean spaces.
of the hotel and spa. Below right: Below: The public areas of the hotel
Concept model showing positive are placed within an expansive circular
and negative spaces. reflection pool.

372 Desert Resort 373

 Chronology

Jakarta Yanqing
Bogor Qingdao
Bandung Shanghai
Bali Taiwan

Cavtat Siem Reap Sulawesi

Phnom Penh
Okinawa
Gocek
Rabat
Chiang Mai Hokkaido
Vancouver Nevis
Cairo Bangkok Tokyo
Jerez Phuket Boso
Shima
Hyogo
Kyoto
Kobe

Dubai

Qatar

Alibagh

New Delhi
Ajloun
Amman Colombo
Dibbeen Peraliya Brisbane
Galle
Tangalle

Hayman Island
Kolkata
Noosa
Byron Bay
Bhutan
Hunter Valley
Kuala Lumpur Sydney
Kelantan
Lankawi Melbourne
Johor
Desaru Darwin

Singapore

Perth
Fremantle
Margaret River
Araluen
 1979 1986 1989 – 1992
Jimbaran Bay Resort Hotel, Bali, Indonesia Curtis Island Resort, Queensland, Australia Amanusa, Bali, Indonesia
Unbuilt Project
Amanusa is a 30 suite Amanresort, located on a hillside overlooking the beach
A 275 room resort hotel located in south Bali. The project was of Nusa Dua. This was the first small luxury hotel built for Adrian Zecha of
suspended during construction and was later demolished. Amanresorts. The hotel also overlooks the Bali Golf Club, and the development
now includes a number of private villas.

1980 – 1986 1987 – 1991

The Darwin Centre, Darwin, Australia The Sentosa, Singapore
Developed on an inner-city site in Australia’s northernmost capital, the This hotel is situated within 23 acres of parkland on the island of
Darwin Centre is composed of two main components; a performing Sentosa, south of the city of Singapore. The design provides 275
arts centre and a 275 room hotel. The arts centre includes two venues; guestrooms within a series of interlinked low-rise buildings to take
a 1100 seat lyric theatre and a 250 seat studio. The hotel incorporates a advantage of the views over the landscape, towards the city and over
large convention facility. the busy Straits of Singapore. The architecture makes reference to the
many British military buildings remaining on the island, a legacy from
its former use as a military garrison.

1987 – 1991
The Sukhothai, Bangkok, Thailand
The Sukhothai is a 275 room luxury hotel located in the Sathorn area
of central Bangkok. It is approached through a narrow laneway lined
with klongs, (canals), which were once widespread throughout the city.
The project unfolds in a series of interlinked buildings with obvious but
restrained references to Thai architectural traditions. Courtyard spaces
provide a sense of calm and refuge from the surrounding noise and bustle.

1982
Hyatt Kopindo, Ujung Pangang, Indonesia
Unbuilt

1983
Tugu Pratama Building, Jakarta, Indonesia
Competition, First Prize, Unbuilt

1986–1990
The Heritage Hotel and Port Office Building, Brisbane,
Australia
The high-rise Heritage Hotel is located on the banks of the Brisbane
River, adjacent the Queensland Botanical Gardens. Its two wings are
designed with single loaded corridors affording all 275 rooms views of
the river. The heritage-listed Port Authority building, designed by F.D.R.
Stanley, has been fully restored and incorporated into the public areas
of the hotel.

394 Chronology 395

 2000 – 2004 2000 2001– 2003
Amanwella, Tangalle, Sri Lanka Casuarina Beach Resort, NSW, Australia Triguboff House, Sydney, Australia
Unbuilt
This 30 suite resort hotel is located on a steep hillside site overlooking A private house located in the waterfront suburb of Vaucluse,
a stunning private beach in southern Sri Lanka. The site’s beauty A mix of villas, apartments and a hotel designed to complement a overlooking Sydney harbour.
and strong sense of place emanate from an existing coconut grove larger development of architect-designed single houses on a coastal
adjacent to the beach. This has been left untouched. site in northern New South Wales.
The suites are designed as individual villas, formed by a masonry
perimeter wall. The placement of the roof across this walled enclosure
determines the zoning beneath. This results in three simple spaces;
the entry court with private pool, the sleeping and bathing zone and
the veranda, open to the ocean view. Sliding glass doors on either side
of the pavilion provide the option of natural cross ventilation and also
protection from the strong monsoon winds.

2001– 2004
Amangalla, Galle, Sri Lanka
The project comprised the restoration of the oldest hotel building
in East Asia, The New Oriental Hotel, built in 1683 as a British Army
officers’ mess, located within the historic Galle Fort. Renamed
Amangalla, the building reopened following the 2004 tsunami and now
operates as a luxury hotel and forms an important part of the social
focus of the town of Galle.

2001
Good Residence, Melbourne, Australia
Unbuilt
An inward-looking residence on a corner site in the inner suburb of
Toorak, in Melbourne.

402 Chronology 403

Contributors Biographies

Author Geoffrey London

Geoffrey London is the Winthrop Professor He was a commissioner at CABE, and He has received awards from the Council
of Architecture at The University of deputy chair, 1999-2007, and chair, 2009- of Europe Swedish Institute Scholarship
Western Australia and a Professorial Fellow 2011. He chaired the Olympic Design (1986), Japan Foundation Fellowship
at the University of Melbourne. He is also Review panel from 2006-2012. He has (1990), and the Kyoto City Appreciation
the Victorian Government Architect, having been joint editor of Planning in London Award (2001).
previously held the position of Western since 1992.
Australian Government Architect for five Erwin Viray was a member of the jury
years. He is a Life Fellow of the Australian He received an honorary FRIBA in 1994; of the Zumtobel Award for Humanity
Institute of Architects and an Honorary an honorary doctorate from the University and Sustainability and of the Asia
Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Westminster, 2004; and an honorary Architecture Olympiad in 2009, an award
of Architects. fellowship from University College London, ambassador for the Holcim Award for
2006. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Sustainable Construction, a member of
He has written extensively on architecture Incorporation of Architects in Scotland; the planning and management board
in Australia and on procuring innovation an honorary member of the Royal Society of TOTO Gallery Ma, and a jury member
in architecture. He has served on and of Architects in Wales; and an honorary for the Singapore President’s Design
acted as Chair of many architectural member of the British Council for Offices. Awards 2012.
design award juries and a large number of He was awarded an OBE for services to
competition juries. He is regularly invited to architecture in 2002.
direct and participate in design workshops
and design reviews and has acted as a
consultant on numerous architectural and Editor Oscar Riera Ojeda
urban design projects. Essay Erwin Viray
Oscar Riera Ojeda is an editor and
He studied architecture at the University Erwin Viray is Professor of Architecture and designer based in Philadelphia,
of Western Australia and the Architectural Design at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, Singapore, and Buenos Aires. Born in
Association School of Architecture in Japan. He has been Editorial Associate of 1966, in Argentina, he moved to the
London. He studied fine art at the Western a+u (Architecture and Urbanism), Tokyo United States in 1990. Since then he
Australian Institute of Technology. since 1996. has published over one hundred books,
assembling a remarkable body of work
He obtained a BS Arch (cum laude) from notable for its thoroughness of content,
the University of the Philippines in 1982, a timeless character, and sophisticated
Essay Paul Finch Master of Engineering in Architecture at the and innovative craftsmanship. Oscar
Kyoto Institute of Technology in 1986, and a Riera Ojeda’s books have been published
Paul Finch is programme director of the Doctor of Engineering in Architecture at the by many prestigious publishing houses
World Architecture Festival; he is deputy University of Tokyo in 1991. across the world, including ORO editions,
chairman of the UK Design Council Birkhäuser, Byggförlaget, The Monacelli
and chairman of Design Council CABE Erwin Viray was formerly Assistant Press, Gustavo Gili, Thames & Hudson,
(Commission for Architecture and the Built Professor in the Department of Architecture Rizzoli, Whitney Library of Design, and
Environment); and editorial director of the at the School of Design and Environment of Taschen. Oscar Riera Ojeda is also
Architectural Review and Architects’ Journal. the National University of Singapore (NUS) the creator of numerous architectural
before taking up the position of Professor book series, including Ten Houses,
Born London in 1949 he took a history of Architecture and Design at the Kyoto Contemporary World Architects, The New
degree at Selwyn College, Cambridge, Institute of Technology in July 2011. He was American House and The New American
before going into journalism. He was deputy appointed Head of the Graduate School of Apartment, Architecture in Detail, and
editor of Estates Times (now Property Architecture Design in March 2012. Single Building. His work has received
Week), 1976-1983; editor of Building Design, many international awards, in-depth
1983-94; editor of the Architects’ Journal, He is also Design Critic of Architecture at reviews, and citations. He is a regular
1994-1999, and editor of The Architectural the Harvard University Graduate School of contributor and consultant for several
Review 2005-2009. Design (GSD) in Cambridge, MA, USA. publications in the field.

419
Studio Past Collaborators

Partners
Bruce Fell-Smith

Associates
Richard Hassell | Ross Logie | Wong Mun Summ

Singapore
Nadine Alwill | Wendy Annakin | Therese Barkley | Batdron Sudirman | Ernesto Bedmar |
Angela Bruton | Tim Buckingham | Donovan Bumanglag | Cecilla Burris | Paul Carmody |
Chai Joon Ho | Edwin Chai | Michael Chan | Daphne Charles | Chaivanich Chavalit | Cheong
Chin Hwa | Cheong Mun Yee | Cheong Yew Kuan | Philip Chiang | Chin Kin Keong | Barnaby
Chiverton | Choo Leh Cheng | Ivy Choo | Magdalene Choo | Chua Bee Leng | Chua Teck Chuan
| Daniel Chua | Stephen Chua | Chung Teck Keong | Kanoa Chung | Max Clark | Patrick Collins
| Julian Coombes | Grahame Cruikshanks | Jochim Dalqvist | Albano Daminato | Rodney De
Souza | Cliona Dempsey | Matt Derrick | Alstair Drummond | Stephen Duddy | Martin Dufresne
| Tsutomu Emi | Todor Enchev | Faezan Kamis | Lydia Fong | Paul Gannicott | Lisa Garriss |
Laure Geneste | Alan Gillard | Goh Wei Kiat | Martin Goh | Adam Guernier | Grace Gumarang |
Josephine Harkins | Lindsay Harrison | Penny Hay | Ho Sai Tuck | Richard Ho | Christine Hoe |
Hsu Hsia Pin | Richard Hutchinson | Cedric Jaccard | Andrew James | Dodie James | Sharon
Jansen | Peter Joseph | Julia Woyyannan | Juliana Ahmad | Jocelyn Kee | Hugo Keene |
Gaurang Khemka | Derek King | Peter Kirkness | Juliana Koeslidya | Anand Krishnan | Genevie
Kwok | Lai Teck Chuan | Patrick Lee | Reno Lee | Russell Lee | Lee Sey Leng | Selina Leong |
Lim Chee Hong | Lim Yin Shi | Alan Lim | Christine Lim | David Lim | Joyce Lim | Gregory Low |
Karen Lim | R Loh | Lok Tai Lih | Natalie Louey | Gregory Low | Hans Maes | Kim Martin | Jeffrey
Matsuki | Christie McKanna | Richard Middleton | Louise Millin | Mohd Sani | Anita Morandini
| Philip Morton | Kevin Murakmi | Ujjwala Naik-Goenka | Than-Uyen Ngoc Nguyen | Linday
Nishii | Fiona Nixon | Johnny Oh | Tomoko Oki | Ong Cheng Cheng | Shirley Ong | Ken Ooi |
Alessandro Perinelli | Aaron Peters | Anoma Pieris | Daphne Pok | Poo Lee Ming | David Pryor
| Radilah Raamad | Rahim | Tina | Ratnawati | Ali Reda | Deirdre Renniers | Gerry Richardson |
Directors Mark Ritchie | John Sagar | Joanne Saleem | Rayna Sam | Christophe Schaffer | Victor Seah |
Kerry Hill | Simon Cundy | Justin Hill Paul Semple | Jessie Seow | Robert Sie | Corrado Signorotti | Russell Sim | Josephine Simon
| Siti Hawa Salleh | Soon Kar Paik | Stephanie | Sulaiman Tukijan | Diedre Sullivan | David
Associates Sutton | Tah Kong Han | Felix Tan | Tay Soo Min | Tean Bee Theng | Belinda Teo | Ellen-Mary
Yvette Adams | Terry Fripp | Tanuj Goenka | Patrick Kosky | Angelo Kriziotis Terrill | Irene Thung | Toh Yiu Kwong | Steve Velegrinis | Isabelle Vargnaud | Marco Vittino | Amy
Wallace | David Wallar | Anat Watanesk | Daniel Watt | Marc Webb | John Williams | Josephine
Singapore Williams | James Wiseman | Daniel Wong | Francis Wong | Kerry Wong | David Yang | Jeffrey
Au Hong In | Alan Bajamundi | Tim Bradley | Dino Chai | Cheah Yit Eet | Paul Empson | Diana Espejo | Lucy Feast | David Gowty Yeung | Gary Yip | Zarrabida Sutowo | Dean Zhou | Zulhijan Ahmad
Adam Grasso | Rossitza Iordanova | Sulaini Jonied | Lenie Laxamana | Bernard Lee | Carol Lee | Sueann Leow | John Lim | Ken Lim SINGAPORE
Steven Lim | Tan Cheng Ling | Mak Ai Ling | Michael Na | Mario Neves | Mylene Ng | Alex Ong | Duncan Payne | Henry Sauerbier | May Sieow Fremantle Established 1979
Benjamin Smestad | Aswin Soengkono | Belinda Stewart | Tan Cheng Ling | Tan Fock Jee | Kristian van Schaik | Lionel Teh | Ranjit Wagh Robert Allan | Elizabeth Armstrong | Emily Berry | Lindsay Bond | Suzanne Bosanquet | Ben
Cathleen Wing Kee | Joseph Wong | Alicia Worthington Braham | Grace Brown | Chin Siew Chin | Jonathan Choy | Asher Galvin | Phivo Georgiou | FREMANTLE
Established 2006
Robin Gregson | Kristen Kay | Rowena Hockin | Helge Jensen | Timothy Kerr | Aaron King
Fremantle | Felicity Lam | Lam Hsiao Wah | Tim Lannigan | Reg Lark | Thomas O’Brien | Chan Ong
Dean Adams | Jacqueline Armstrong | Jasmine Bailey | Caron Brown | Ryan Brown | Rhys Bowring | Tim Hancock | Terry Galvin | Daniel Ong | Jessica Perry | Courtney Rollison | Javad Seyedi | Richard Stone | William
Lee Kheng Teoh | Valeria La Pegna | Lena Lena | Sean McGivern | Martin Mulchrone | Helena Nikola | Gillian Perry | Gaia Sebastiani Stuart | Angeline Tan | Nina Van Der Grinten | Finn Warnock | Trent Woods
Anna Siefert | Tara Slade | Heloise Tremblay-Dube | Andrew Yang
Abroad
New York Pankaj Bhagwat | Mark Dendy | Charles Hulse | Suresh Keswani | Sapna Khattar | Debashis
Christopher Lee Mitra | Suraj Sahai | Michael Soh | Shinta Siregar | Alvin Tan | Peter Titmus

420 421
Crafting Exhibitions

Throughout the design process, small From Pillar To Post: Deutsches Architektur
scale models are produced. These working Architectural Projects Zentrum:
models provide an early means of testing by UWA Graduates Living The Modern
the three dimensional qualities of the Cullity Gallery, the University of Western Australian Architecture
projects. Often only the ‘body parts of Australia Berlin, Germany
buildings’ are made. Perth, Australia 2007
1996
In crafting these models over the past
sixteen years, more than one thousand
knife blades have been used. Ken Lim, the Global Ends: International Interior Design
studio’s in house model-maker, has kept Towards The Beginning Exhibition
every one of them. Toto Gallery Ma, Tokyo, Japan Taipei, Taiwan
2010 2011

422 423
Photographic Credits

Albert Lim K.S. Martin Farquharson

2-3; 6-7; 15; 18; 24; 27-33; 36-38; 48-62; 65; 62-64; 66-71
72-91; 93-103; 106; 108-113; 115-127; 133; 138;
148-165; 179; 197-198; 206; 215-231; 237; 259; Masano Kawana and the Wave
274-281; 300-310; 335-337; 349 92; 107

Adrian Lambert - Nina Van Der Grinten

Acorn Photo Agency 256-257; 260-261
238-240; 242; 250; 252; 254
Peter Jarver
Albano Daminato 21
168
Peter Stringer
Angus Martin 23
25; 33; 35-36; 38; 232; 234; 240; 244-245; 248-
250; 263-264; 266-267; 270-271; 282-283; 285; Reiner Blunck
287-289; 291-299; 312-317; 378-391 142; 146-147

Anthony Browell Richard Powers

37; 262-263; 269; 272; 15; 204-205; 207-214

Aswin Soengkono Richard Se

375-378 30; 175: 188-189; 197

Brett Boardman Rio Helmi

8 26; 27

Catherine Hill Robert Frith -

378; 383 Acorn Photo Agency
233-234; 241; 243; 246; 249; 251; 253-255
David Gowty
326 Shen Liliang
104-105
Dean Adams
273 Shinkenchiku-Sha
28; 169-174; 176-177; 180-188; 190-193; 195; 202
Dominic Sansoni
285-286
State Library of Western Australia
Geoff Lung 20
194
Tan Cheng Ling
Ian Lloyd 368
23
Tanuj Goenka
Inasetec 4-5; 168; 176; 196; 199-201; 321-322
328
Yvette Adams
John Madden 39; 318-319; 321; 323-325
247
Web commons
Jon Linkins 14; 20
32; 138-140; 143-145; 147

Jorge Ferrari
28; 128-131; 134-137

Justin Hill
51; 362; 366; 389-391

Ken Lim
388

Kerry Hill
19; 20; 24; 166-167; 323

Luke Bartholomew Tan

18; 39; 111; 114-115; 141; 237; 265; 284; 290;
315; 327; 319-320; 343; 347; 354-355; 357; 360;
371-372

430