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ITALIAN EXCELLENCE IN THE HEART OF SINGAPORE – A REVIEW OF MERCURIO DESIGN LAB

Set on 1,168,652.50 sqm of the Laguna National Golf & Country Club—one of Singapore’s prominent golf and country club since its inauguration in 1993—the brief for the project includes a makeover of the existing clubhouse and the provision of a new hotel.

The existing clubhouse was a boxy-looking building with golf facilities for players taking on the challenge of two championship courses. The initial brief was to keep the demolition of the old pavilion to a minimum and incorporate it with the five-star luxury hotel. However, due to the changes brought particularly by the new MRT line, the chance to work with a design from scratch arose. The announcement for the new MRT line opened up a more exciting and less constrained design and paved the way to develop a concept that interacts better with the environment. The result is a dynamic and single unified building that merges almost seamlessly with the surging landscape of the golf course.

Led by founder Massimo Mercurio, the Italian studio Mercurio Design Lab wanted to create a strong affinity between the architecture of the structure and the beautiful undulating ground of the golf course. Taking the gentle undulations as the inspiration, Massimo Mercurio designed the project with a fluid swooping form that sweeps itself from the landscape and curves to cover the two different functions—the clubhouse and the hotel. The over-arching roof and shared glazed facade are to marry the complexities brought by the two entities with a discrepancy in height. The glazed façade draws light into the interior, and when seen from the outside, has a beautiful illumination effect. The design composition also gives visitors the perfect vantage point to take in the golf course and the gorgeous natural scenery.

Dusit Thani Laguna greets its guests with a curvilinear aesthetic that is also visible in the interiors of the building. The success to craft and bringing to life such a distinctive design feature was the combined efforts of the passionate and highly creative team of Mercurio Design Lab’s architects, engineers, designers, and artists. This collaborative approach resulted in a ground-breaking project that pushed the boundaries and created a masterpiece of Mercurio Design Lab's hallmark of neo-futuristic architecture.

Creating an architectural design that would meet practicality, connect with the people, and minimize the violence it would bring to the environment is daunting. In the context of design, there was not much technical difficulty in accomplishing the project, but the construction of the roof, due to its unusual form becomes the main challenge. Hence, extensive research to find the right technology that would accommodate the roof plan was instrumental. Overall, the project faced some

roadblocks during construction, but as it now stands beautiful on the golf course as one of the most remarkable buildings in Singapore is well worth the effort.

The end product resounds well with the panel of judges at this year’s The Luxury Lifestyle Awards. They were impressed by the measures that the Mercurio Design Lab team has undertaken to bring about a revolutionary artwork and build an iconic structure in the heart of Singapore. This significant project, which has become a landmark of the Singaporean hospitality scene, was naturally concluded with the jury awarding it the title Best Hotel Architecture for the Dusit Thani Laguna.

Images Copyright: Mercurio Design Lab