DES STICKS TO DESIGN CLASSICS

AS ONE of the people who shaped the Gold Coast, architect Des Brooks has always designed buildings to be different.

At the 25th anniversary celebration for Marriott Resort Dapper Des spoke of his design concepts for the hotel.

“I had just come back from Singapore and was a huge fan of the colonial styling of Raffles Hotel. They had a series of big fans for a ‘punkah wallah’ – the people who sit out the front and pull a rope to make them move. I wanted that look in the Marriott so I made a model out of paddle pop sticks to show the owners what it would look like and luckily they loved it.”

Des was also sporting a pair of gleaming white patent leather shoes in loving memory of the famous white shoe brigade.

Always the showman.