Bill Bensley By Design
The Harvard-educated, Bangkok-based interior designer describes how art, parties and nature inform his practice
Luxury design go-to Bill Bensley has been creating extraordinary hotels and resorts since 1989. With more than 200 completed projects and a 150-strong team which he heads with his partner Jirachai Rengthong Bensley has created one-of-a-kind spaces in India, Southeast Asia, and the Americas for major hoteliers, including Rosewood and One&Only.
The prolific U.S.-born, Bangkok, Thailand-based architect, who has lived and worked in Asia since his Harvard University days, boasts a highly original oeuvre. His otherworldly spaces include an edible golf course, a Malaysian sultan’s royal palace, the world’s longest, largest swimming pool, a thrilling zip-line ride over one of Asia’s most beautiful ecosystems, and his personal favorites: a boutique hotel and tented camp, created in collaboration with the Shinta Mani Hotel Group.
The need to engage with sustainability in hotel design
Sustainable design can encourage deep engagement with a place and its people. In hotel design, it’s time we saw it as an opportunity to be urgently harnessed. Some architects and designers are doing just that.
BY Leanne Amodeo
26 April, 2021
Sustainability is now part and parcel of good design and a priority consideration among the region’s architects and designers working on residential, commercial and public portfolios. But what about hospitality projects? Sustainability and hospitality do seem at odds with each other, making it inherently challenging to design a genuinely sustainable hotel, bar or restaurant. Rather than be a deterrent, this should necessitate a greater sense of urgency, particularly in light of the climate crisis.