38 EPICURE LOOKBOOK
Better known for its barefoot luxury properties in far-flung, nature-rich locales, Six Senses breaks new ground with Six Senses Duxton – its first foray into the city centre. Featuring the eclectic touches of legendary Brit designer Anouska Hempel, Singap
Six Senses Duxton
We admit: Six Senses Duxton makes us proud to be living in Singapore. With rapid urbanisation and a lack of natural landscapes, our country is quickly losing its soul and places of cultural value are being lost to gentrification.
A much-welcomed entrant on the local hotel scene, Six Senses’ first Singapore property, which opened last month, puts our city-state on the world map for the right reasons. Located in the historical district of Tanjong Pagar, the 49-room hotel sets up shop along a stretch of Duxton Road lined with colonial-era shophouses. Six Senses Duxton was also a hotel – The Duxton Hotel which was later renamed Berjaya Hotel – in its previous life, albeit a tired four-star joint that had seen better days. With the building’s structure already set in place, it may have seemed a cakewalk for acclaimed British interior designer and one-time Bond girl, Anouska Hempel (she’s the creator of Blakes Hotel in London, one of the world’s first luxury boutique hotels), to whip things into shape when she was approached to helm the hotel’s overhaul in 2015. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
“There were a lot of restrictions when it came to design and construction, understandably so since Six Senses Duxton is, first and foremost, a heritage building. Almost everything we did on the façade and interior structure required the approval of the Urban Redevelopment Authority,” shares Hempel. “It was a challenge, especially when you consider the fact that it was a pre-existing hotel and we had to tailor the design to fit the existing structure, as opposed to building and designing the hotel from scratch.”
Living in the past
Inspired by a whimsical fictional backstory of a lost Chinese girl who believes she’s an empress and eventually wanders to 83 Duxton Road, Hempel blends Chinese, Malay and European elements such as Chinese porcelain-chip friezes, Malay timber fretwork, French windows, Portuguese shutters and Corinthian pilaster with Duxton Hill’s colourful past to create a sensual, sophisticated ambience. “I wanted to make sure that the hotel reflected some aspects of Duxton Road’s rich history, from its time as a nutmeg plantation to its dark days as a notorious red-light district filled with opium dens,” she reveals.
Although Six Senses Duxton features eight themed categories inspired by the area’s history – such as Opium, Nutmeg, Shophouse, and Pearl – each of the 49 guestrooms and suites has been given a personal Hempel touch. Hence, no two are exactly alike. Everything in the hotel, from the lights to the fabric used for cushion covers, was carefully curated by Hempel. In fact, many of the rooms have been outfitted with furnishings from her personal collection. “The calligraphy wallpaper that you see throughout the building is from my personal collection – it’s a real estate indenture from the 18th century that was made into wallpaper. The eclectic mix of ornaments, such as calligraphy brushes, bamboo screens and bold decorative pillows, are part of my private collection as well. They all serve to add a special vibe and additional sensory element for guests,” she says.
The rooms can be as different as day and night. The sultry Opium Rooms and Suites feature dark interiors and black fourposter Chinese platform beds, while the bright and sunny Pearl Suites are airy spaces of white walls, pristine bedlinen and dressers inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Six Senses Duxton is one of the few hotels in Singapore with two-storey rooms; each Duxton Duplex Suite features a restored lacquered wood spiral staircase from the original building.
The sultry Opium Suite features dark interiors and calligraphy wallpaper from Hempel’s personal collection.
Pearl of the Orient
The moment guests enter Six Senses Duxton, they are transported to a bygone era – a recreation of what the building might have looked like back in the day – but with a modern twist. Large golden fans and a striking palette of black, gold and yellow are layered with Chinese screens and Anouska’s calligraphy wallpaper. Elegant black and gold settees and communal black lacquer tables give way to the hotel reception and a private sitting room to the right, and Yellow Pot –an intimate antiquarian-themed bar and restaurant – to the left. The Yellow Pot bar features a heritage stained glass ceiling with circular motifs, which have been replicated in a more contemporary design to adorn the surrounding walls as well.
“I’m particularly proud of the work we’ve done in the lobby. It manages to serve as a social space while retaining its homely feel, which is something we rarely see in hotels. We achieved this by using Chinese screens to create pockets of private areas within an open space,” enthuses Hempel.
A Six Senses property isn’t complete without the element of wellness. Therefore, in addition to offerings such as nature discovery walking tours and tea workshops, the hotel also boasts the services of a reputable Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) physician with over 40 years of experience. By appointment only, he offers on-site consultations and a medicinal herbal dispensary to all in-house guests. Furthermore, guests will receive two chilled glass bottles of complimentary tinctures formulated by the TCM doctor in their in-room minibar daily.
With this attention to detail combined with a deep respect for the building’s history, it’s no wonder Six Senses Duxton has received the Urban Redevelopment Authority Architectural Heritage Award (an accolade bestowed on developments that seamlessly integrate the old and the new while demonstrating exemplary restoration of heritage buildings), an accomplishment that Hempel has achieved with much finesse.