05 Mar 2020 will be a Stellar Year for World-Renowned Architect Jean-Michel Gathy
Award-winning architectural and interior-design legend, Jean-Michel Gathy, embarks on a stellar year with five new hotel openings planned and the announcement of some major Master Plan projects.
Principal designer of Denniston which he founded in 1993, Jean Michel Gathy is acknowledged as ‘the Architect’s Architect’ – creator of some of the world’s most luxurious hotels including properties for Aman, Mandarin Oriental, and Cheval Blanc. Many of these have revolutionised high-end travel and the tourism economy of several countries, pioneering the use of tents as luxury accommodation, over-water hammocks and elevating hotel architecture and design to game-changing new levels.
From the classic elegance of Four Seasons properties to the playfulness of One&Only, and the Zen of Aman, 2020 openings will include:
- Four Seasons, Bangkok, May 2020: interior design and landscaping, with unique river frontage on Chao Phraya River, a dominance of water features and garden courtyards and a collection of art installations curated by Gathy himself
- Four Seasons, Tokyo, June 2020: interior design – the property is unique in entirely overlooking the Imperial Palace so that one challenge has been to respect the laws that forbid looking ‘down’ on the Emperor
- One&Only, Montenegro, July 2020: architect, designer and landscaper, carefully melding the aesthetics of Venice, the Ottoman empire and the vernacular of Montenegro
- Jumeirah, Bali, Summer 2020: interior design taking as its theme the colonial Royal of the 1940s
- Aman, New York, December 2020: a hero project in the iconic Crown building on 5th Avenue
Additionally, Jean Michel Gathy’s Denniston have been contracted as Master Planners on two vast, game-changing projects in America and the Middle East, soon to be announced.
Resident in Asia for almost 40 years, Gathy was raised and educated in Belgium. As a result, his style is truly unique, blending Palladian symmetry and geometry with a more Asian concept of the layering of space, with open flow, a lack of doors, and the manufacture of cozy privacy within one big volume. His design philosophy is drawn from the pioneering work of Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, the founder of what we now call ‘tropical architecture’. He is an expert in translating the DNA of the luxury brands he works with into each new property yet a thread runs through all his work: a signature passion for working with water. Iconic designs include Singapore’s largest rooftop infinity pool overlooking the city’s skyline at Marina Bay Sands, the world’s most extravagant Gold Energy Pool at the St. Regis Lhasa, and The Setai Miami; at LVMH’s Cheval Blanc Randheli in the Maldives, the spa is positioned on its own island and the Tapasake restaurant at One&Only Maldives is gloriously suspended over water – a showcase of glass, stone and stainless steel.
Further projects across the world include properties in China, Venice, Tokyo, Singapore, Dubai, Miami, the Bahamas and Panama. Uniquely, Denniston is working on four properties in Bali alone, including a W hotel, a Mandarin Oriental and a Cheval Blanc as well as the Jumeirah opening this summer.
The Jean Michel Gathy / Denniston back catalogue includes The Chedi Andermatt, Switzerland; Amanyara, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos; Cheval Blanc Randheli, The Maldives; Amanoi, Vietnam; Marina Bay Sands, Singapore; The Chedi Muscat, Oman; Aman Canal Grand, Venice; Malikha Lodge, Burma; One&Only Reethi Rah, Maldives;
Visit denniston.com.my for more information on Denniston Architects or Principal Designer Jean-Michel Gathy.
Petrie PR is a dynamic boutique Asia based PR agency providing specialist communications strategy for the luxury lifestyle, travel, property, design and spa sectors.
Regionally and internationally connected, our reach spans all the most influential media in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia as well as emerging markets including Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
Find out more about us.