Mondrian Singapore Duxton is set to shine a light on the Lion City’s creative powers and become its new home of art-forward cool as it prepares to throw open its doors in March 2023.
Helmed by a team of all-star iconoclasts and change-makers ranging across the fields of hospitality, cuisine, design, fashion, nightlife and art, and located within the city’s most happening precinct, Mondrian Singapore Duxton is ready to raise the bar in the art of the possible and raise the roof of Asia’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan city.
Mondrian Singapore Duxton was designed from the ground up by the forward-thinkers at Los Angeles-based hotshop Studio Carter, led by the inimitable Robbyn Carter, and imbued with a philosophy of ‘deconstructed shophouse chic.’ Eschewing the traditional lobby, the space fully immerses guests in a bustling restaurant and bar from the moment they arrive. The 302 rooms and suites take inspiration from traditional Singaporean architecture and are executed with contemporary flair.
This approach manifests throughout the hotel. “Rather than a direct translation of the classic shophouse, we took its parts and deconstructed it into contemporary forms. We wanted to recognise it, but also reinvent it, that Singapore silhouette, and rediscover old details in contemporary and unexpected touches.”
She also mined Singapore’s rich melting pot of cultures and trade route neighbours for inspirations for art, furniture and materials. “It’s a beautiful merger of the botanical green city, the shophouses, the cultural convergence, the new with the historical,” says Carter.
The Mondrian Singapore Duxton art collection further compliments the design narrative, inviting guests to broaden their horizons and journey through the property. The multi-disciplinary curated artworks feature both emerging and established Singaporean and international artists and were specifically selected for the element of surprise they create.
From the breathtaking Shophouse Suites that repurpose historical icons in bold and unexpected ways to a gleaming tower with 360-degree views from the rooftop, Mondrian stirs the spirit of the Duxton neighbourhood.
Duxton Hill has a colourful and controversial history; backtrack 100 years and its streets were filled with adventurers and thrill-seekers searching for a taste of the forbidden. Fast-forward to now, where Mondrian Singapore Duxton provides a gathering place for a creative community abuzz with barista cafes, world-class eateries and bars, avant garde galleries and boutiques.
Mondrian Singapore Duxton will be a food- and fashion-forward culinary destination for locals and travelers alike. A restaurant, café, cocktail bar, and rooftop bar will combine historic architecture from Singapore’s centuries-old shophouses with a new build of modern, contemporary influences.
Dario Cecchini, known as the world’s best butcher, will preside over the flagship dining experience, Bottega di Carna, a modern Italian eatery with a rebellious spin and a touch of Tuscany. Bottega di Carna’s bustle and glamour will be the first thing guests encounter upon arriving at lobby level, as Executive Chef Alastair Clayton and Chef de Cuisine Kenny Huang add theatre in the open kitchen and prime cuts of the finest meats hang like jewels in display cases.
Accessed by a secret tunnel and celebrating the ultra-vibrancy and wild nature of Southeast Asia, Jungle Ballroom is a tropical cocktail bar rooted in the region’s rich bounty that pulses with decadent mystique and sultry glamour. A place where cocktails, creative and classic, meet adventures in mixology, served from a sunken lavastone bar amid glimpses of the lush jungle outside.
Christina’s offers a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city by day with its selection of products made by local artisans. By night, the space transforms into a devoted wine and cocktail haven, just the place to plot your business revolution or creative coup.
At the Rooftop Bar and Poolside Cabanas, guests will be transported to the glitz and glamour of 1970s Hollywood at Canyon Club, surrounded by the sweeping cinematic views of the glittering Singapore skyline. Fresh seafood dishes and colourful crafted cocktails are the highlights of this California-inspired menu.
Mondrian Singapore Duxton will continue and expand upon this drive to be different, offering a home, a hub and a hive for the dreamers, the change agents, the confronters, the avant garde, the unswerving, the action takers and the doers.
General Manager, maverick and all-round mischief-maker Robert C. Hauck and his team of ‘unexpected talents’ sourced from within and outside the hospitality industry, are promising a rolling series of launch events that will rally Singapore’s cultural connoisseurs and offer memorable moments in art, music, fashion and food, providing a new playground and a spiritual home for like-minded provocateurs.
“It’s all about gathering a true community of creatives and free-thinkers, and provoking conversations, imaginations and culture,” says Hauck. “I see Mondrian becoming the beating heart of this extraordinary city, a catalyst to forge connections with like-minded people, innovators and the wild at heart.”
