I have been living next door to PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering for years. My landlord told me that some ‘minor’ renovation works needed to be done, which turned out to be extremely disruptive (you can’t really stay in an apartment with all of the furniture wrapped in plastic and no bathroom). Luckily- after a bit of bargaining and complaining, a rent rebate turned into a spectacular staycation at one of the best hotels in the world.
The incredible architecture of the verdant hotel by WOHA Architects is world famous and its worth checking out even from the outside. It’s even cooler staying there- every detail down to the immaculate interior design was designed by WOHA and the it’s really a hotel stay like no other.
The rooms are beautiful, with bespoke timber detailing and muted soft furnishings. All of the rooms have views of the adjacent Hong Lim Park with the Singapore cityscape in the background. In the foreground are views of the iconic lush curved skygardens that the hotel is famous for.
One of the interesting details is a custom WOHA designed bathtub with an infinity edge detail.
The public areas of the hotel are spectacularly lush and filled with tropical greenery. It feels like a tropical resort, even though you are in the middle of Singapore’s dense city centre.
Atop the podium of the building is a level filled with landscape with an incredible infinity edge pool hovering just above the tree canopy.
Birdcage like pavilions floating like treehouses among the landscape provide awesome places to hang out by the pool and enjoy the tropical environment.
One of my favourite features of the building is a secret canopy walk that traverses the sides of the podium rooftop. You can explore terraced landscapes, walk behind a waterfall and below the infinity pool, immersed in urban nature and getting very interesting perspectives of the building itself and the surrounding cityscape.
Even the corridors of the hotel are amazing, open to the air with tropical breezes and plants everywhere.
In the lobby and restaurant at the ground floor, the organic contoured forms of the building turn into striated timber strata that shape incredible interiors.
Images by Jonathan Choe
