Bill Bensley - Paradise by Design: Tropical Residences and Resorts by Bensley Design Studios

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to pay tribute to many friends and family for their inspiration and help with this book.

Thanks to Brian Sherman for being my big brother and for looking after Bensley Design Studios through thick and thin.

Thanks to Ouant, the most talented designer on the face of the earth.... You know no limits!

Thanks to Putu, our rising star in Bali, for your great work.... May you have time to paint happily with your fingers and toes.

Thanks to our endearing and loyal designers of ten plus years: Chang, Wat, Thor, Pong, Korn, Siri, Noi, Nui, Kit, Ja, Nueng, Tui, Toi, Neng.... You are the heart and soul of BDS. Not forgetting our always cheerful ringleader, Ms Keng.

Thanks to Lek Bunnag, the best architect I know, for being a wonderfully patient teacher.

Thanks to John Underwood, the Renaissance man, for always making us look great.

Thanks to Bill Heinecke for giving me many chances to experiment with landscape, interiors and, more recently, architecture.

Thanks to Tan Hock Beng for inspiring me to write and to publish, as well as Peter Meyers and Kuk for editing this book.

Thanks to Howie and Mam and Simon and Jeffrey Wilkes for being my great friends and sounding boards. Thanks, Jeffo, for teaching me something about interiors whether you wanted to or not! You are my idol.

Thanks to my sweet mum, my ever learning, ever inquisitive father, and my always caring brother and sister, John and Dr Ann.

And, most of all, thanks to Jirachai, my partner in life.

One of the treatment rooms at the Anantara Spa by Mandara, Hua Hin, Thailand (page 202).

PARADISO
LORD LOVE A DUCK

W ho cannot suppress a chuckle at the sight of a fat duck? Who cannot appreciate the humor of animal caricatures? The tropical gardenscape at the Paradiso Luxury Residences in Shenzhen, located in the Pearl River Delta in southern China, forms a playful contrast to the four 30-story towers that look across the ocean to Hong Kong, only 12 miles (25 km) away. Built initially to cater to the wealthy local population, the resort/condominium development quickly became a magnet for Hong Kong and Guangzhou weekenders and its intensely detailed landscaping a much talked of feature. The gardens, commissioned especially to produce a resort-like ambience, an unusual concept in China at the time, are dotted with a fantastical menagerie of sculpturesducks, chickens, peacocks, swans, frogs, fish and many other creaturesin and among pools, pathways and playgrounds. Nature, both real and imaginary, abounds in all its beauty.

Although the foundations for the buildings had been laid before we came on to the project, we were drawn into doing more than garden design. To add both function and aesthetics to the empty areas on top of the podium and along the walkways, we created streetscapes using the buildings faades. Wall shutters and suspended lanterns were installed. Fountains and walls interrupted walkways. Various pond features produced interesting light reflections. To cater to Chinese taste, we also created tearooms, airy seating areas and an iron-canopied birdcage room (where humans sit in the birdcage, not the birds!) looking out over the gardens. All of this gave us the opportunity not only to extend the gardensno area is left unadorned!but also to create a protected yet inherently gardenesque environment among a group of clean-lined high-rise buildings.

While studying Nepalese architectural traditions, I learned the local technique of repousshammering a thin piece of metal, usually brass, over a carved wooden surface to create a pattern, thus allowing the craftsman to add a great deal of detail without breaking the metal. Here, we used copper over wood carved with a relatively simple pattern of a fighting cock.

Farming is the backbone of the Chinese economy, with rice the staple crop in the south. Bensley Design Studio artists painted around 16 sepia paintings on wood, some over 13 feet (4 meters) high. The paintings are embellished with thousands of small squares of gilt to depict the sun setting on the rice fields.

Bronze duck fountains in a row are a recurrent theme in the resorts two swimming pools.

Taken from the top of the adjacent residential tower, this photo illustrates the beauty of the plan and the variety of materials used in the intensely detailed garden.

The pattern, texture and color of the local stone pool deck is a delightful contrast to the smooth, linear wooden platforms.

Putu Mahendra, who heads our Bali studio, designed a number of sandstone and bronze maidens as well as the sepia and gold paintings on wood. The paintings were done by artists in our Bangkok studio and shipped to Shenzhen.

To complement the tropical content of the painting behind, we designed this bronze banana tree, which sits on a solid carved sandstone base.

Encircling the childrens pool, carved gray granite fish on stacked stone bases invigorate the waters.

The duck theme recurs at the childrens pool, this time in the form of duck handrails, which also spew water from their mouths.

I love this design for a pool shower. A big bronze coconut leaf bends like a Balinese festive penjor bamboo pole, pulled down by the weight of a shower rose.