Thailand-based Bill Bensley, considered one of the world’s top architects, is the brain behind many of Asia’s top luxury

resorts, including The Leela Palace Udaipur. Sonali Shah finds out how the American manages to stay at the top of his game.

The design

GeniusIt may be that your ears have never

caught the echoes of his fame, but,

if you enjoy travelling the world in

style, chances are you’ve lived many

a good times in the swanky properties

Bill Bensley has designed. Bensley,

who heads the Bangkok-based Bensley

Designs Studio, conceptualises luxury

resorts and chic private residences —

and is an ace at it. Architectural Digest

has twice called him one of the top 100

designers in the world, Time magazine

had chosen him as one of the globe’s top

five hospitality designers.

Over the last three decades or so,

Bensley has designed more than 180

resorts and hotels across the world;

it’s impossible to draw up a list of

the world’s top hospitality properties

without including a few of the Bensley

masterpieces. Last year, The Leela Palace

Udaipur, which reflects the combined

genius of Bensley and Kuala Lumpur-

based interior designer Jeffrey Wilkes,

was feted as ‘The Most Exclusive Retreat

on Earth’ by Robb Report. “Building

The Leela Palace Udaipur was a terrific

experience. The site was extremely

challenging as it is smaller (than

most properties would be) and faced

multiple government restrictions,”

says Bensley, who has also designed the

landscape of the property. Bensley says

he enjoyed working with the Indian

stonemasons, whom he terms “the best

in the world”. But the best part of The

Leela Palace Udaipur project, he says,

was partnering with Wilkes. “He’s the

interior designer of all the good things

in India and a perfectionist. He’s a

constant source of inspiration and

we’ve been friends for more than 20

years. He is also the funniest person on

this planet!” Amongst the other people

he admires is Kelly Wearstler: “the sexy

Building The Leela Palace Udaipur, says Bensley, was “a terrific experience”

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American interior designer who’s not

afraid of anything. I absolutely love her

bravado and her creativity”. Bensley

also loves Frank Lloyd Wright, the great

American architect most acclaimed for

Fallingwater, a mesmerising house that

hangs over a waterfall in Pennsylvania.

“He was an extraordinary architect. He

looked at the small and large nature of

things and made it all come together,”

says Bensley, a Harvard alumnus.

Bensley prefers to call his own

working style “maximalist”. “I

typically spend five or six years on a

single project. I enjoy tedious projects —

especially, when we’re going somewhere

new with it and the client gives me the

independence to create,” he says.

PersonalQuestionnaire

Bensley’s favourite person in  India:“Captain Nair. He is an extraordinarily kind and sincere person. He is, by far, my most favourite person and client in India.”Favourite Indian food  dish:“Palak paneer.”

Most memorable moment in life:“Getting hit square in the head by a bag of red dye during Holi.” Favourite book: “The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga.”Favourite film: “Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. I often equate designing a hotel to designing a film, and I love the way he makes a  film.” Favourite sport: “Well, I run every day religiously. Not long distance, but I’ve been running every day since I was 20!”Favourite superhero: “Capt. Nair!”Quintessential Bensley quirk: “I love to eat dinner on the floor of my bedroom.”

Bensley has designed more than 180 hotels and resorts across the world

32 The LeeLa Magazine – WinTer 2013

Starchitecture

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One of Bensley’s more recent

projects has been Shinta Mani (literally,

‘good heart’), in Siem Reap, in the

Angkor Vat region, in Cambodia. The

boutique hotel, which has a smack of

Khmer architecture style, also intends

to enhance the lives of the local people.

“Very recently, I started a new project

for the foundation: the existing farming

methods here extremely primitive and

the crops are limited, so we have started

a farming school,” he says.

“We have changed so many lives!

I would like to invite everyone to visit

Siem Reap and stay at the Shinta Mani,”

says Bensley, who’s a partner at the

hotel. Cambodia, to be sure, fascinates

Bensley, but not as much as Thailand

does. “It’s the Thai people! The Thais

are gorgeous and creative, much like

how I find the Indians. In my next life,

I will live in India,” he says. It’s the

politeness and humbleness of the East

that he would like to see imported to the

Western world. “And the Indian ability

to love, and live with, a number of

diverse religions.”

Currently, Bensley is working on a

hotel in the Caribbean, on the island of

St. Kitts, and a soft opening for select

guests is scheduled towards the end

of the year. It’s a great model of hotel

development for the region, for it’s

built by the villagers themselves, and

not by a “big Chinese contractor”. One

of the interesting features of the resort

is that the fruits and vegetables used

in its kitchens come directly from the

farm in the property (farm-to-table,

as the concept is known). And Bensley

and team have introduced new plants

that were hitherto not available in the

region.

There’s yet another interesting

project in Cambodia that is keeping

Bensley busy these days: “It’s a great

project in Tmor Rung, which might turn

a few heads.” They have purchased 350

hectares of land and are creating what

is going to be Southeast Asia’s first

private wildlife reserve. We’re talking

gibbons, Asian bears, fishing cats, wild

elephants, gaurs, hornbills and more;

and trained rangers on the land have

renounced their life of poaching and

are now working to protect the nature.

The land also boasts a river with three

beautiful waterfalls. Bensley and his

team’s plans for this one are, indeed,

ingenious. “We’re planning 16 super-

luxurious tents here, which will have

“i absolutely love indian food.

and i love the traditional Indian architecture”

The landscape of The Leela Palace Udaipur has been conceptualised by Bensley

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34 The LeeLa Magazine – WinTer 2013

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their own jungle jeeps and private

guides. The camp will be called Shinta

Mani Wild, and will be run completely

off-the-grid; that is, it will generate its

own electricity,” he says.

Bensley is also designing for The

Leela Jaipur, an upcoming boutique

hotel. Bensley’s trips to Rajasthan, in

fact, have got him hooked on to India.

“I absolutely love Indian food! And I

love the traditional Indian architecture.

Very soon, I am touring Rajasthan for

two weeks — just for fun, no work!

I am also a fan of Indian handicrafts,

especially the carved white marble, the

inlaid stone table tops and the ornate

fabrics.”

So what’s the secret of being Bill

Bensley? One might suppose that the

pressure of all those ambitious projects

might weigh heavily on Bensley’s

shoulders, but the man sounds almost

like a Zen master. “Well, I think I am a

calm person with some energy to spare.

I tend to spend a great deal of time just

thinking about new directions for our

many hospitality projects.”

About 1,500 different kinds of plants are nurtured in the gardens of Bensley’s house, in Bangkok

Bensley’s house is befitting of his design nous

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36 The LeeLa Magazine – WinTer 2013