The Mondrian Singapore Duxton is generating a lot of buzz despite not officially taking bookings until June.

Managed by Ennismore, Accor's joint venture, the Singapore location is the brand's first property in Southeast Asia, with plans to more than double its global presence by the end of 2023.

A diverse team

Hauck trusts the unique talents and personality traits of his diverse team to make the Mondrian Singapore Duxton stand out. Photo Credit: Vincent Vichit-Vadakan

With the positive buzz built up, general manager Robert C. Hauck is counting on the individual personalities and talents of his diverse team to make the hotel stand out.

He emphasises his point by pointing out hotel’s operator, a granny who is a walking encyclopedia of local knowledge, the tattooed gentleman he thought would make a striking doorman and instead will be managing the staff restaurant, or the sales director who came from corporate but was only too happy to let his hair down.

The office space is primarily made up of flexible hot desks, and before our tour even starts, staff are calling him to join an impromptu olive oil tasting.

Hauck himself fits right in, greeting Travel Weekly Asia not in regulation dark suit and tie, but in a tight-fitting tee-shirt that screams “gym” more than “office”.

Behind a traditional façade hides surprises

The modern Mondrian Singapore Duxton building, with the bulk of the 302 rooms, is set back from the road behind the shophouse.

The hotel’s decidedly modern 12-storey building that contains the bulk of the 302 rooms is set back from the road behind the modern iteration of the shophouse, making it almost invisible from ground level. 

Robyn Carter, founder of Studio Carter responsible for the clever design that blends old and new in different layers, likes to call it “convergence” whether of eras, cultures or the space the hotel occupies.

Such a varied space lends itself well to housing art, including a monumental sculpture – the first piece on permanent public display by a world-renowned artist whose name will be news when it’s revealed in the coming weeks.

Art pieces both local and international found throughout the hotel have been curated by Talenia Phua Gajardo of Singapore-based The Artling. As most of the major pieces, including those signed by Singaporean Dawn Ng and Englishman Ian Davenport, will be in the public area, maps will be available to visitors whether in-house or not, to guide them around. 

Another unusual staffing call: the hotel employs a Community Curator to bridge the gap between the hotel’s cultural offerings, guests and the world outside the hotel.

Where form meets function

The Mondrian Shophouse Suite is 128 sqm and many shophouse suites have Murphy beds that convert space for meetings/events.

The bulk of the inventory is made up of 22-square-metre rooms that are primarily differentiated based on view and twin or king bedding. Suites range from 46 to 70 square metres with the top-end unit, the Mondrian Shophouse Suite, coming in at a respectable 128 square metres. Many of the shophouse suites feature Murphy beds that fold into the walls, meaning that the space can be easily converted for meetings and events.

But even for the non-suite rooms, compact does not mean poorly planned. Just about every room looks down onto the clay-tile roofs that can still be found around Singapore. Also every room includes a painting depicting Old Singapore from the studio of André Wee. However, when looked at through the augmented reality app Artvive, the canvas comes alive providing details about the local elements that went into the piece.

Destination for travellers and locals

La Bottega di Carna is a meat-centric restaurant in the Mondrian Singapore Duxton with a menu overseen by Chef Kenny Huang.

In addition to retail and F&B tenants on the ground floor, multiple outlets are available within the hotel itself. Christina’s will serve all day from morning coffee made in coffee geek’s dream Slayer coffee machine to evening cocktails and features a ceiling prism from New York studio SOFTlab.

La Bottega di Carna, a concept signed Dario Cecchini, the Tuscan butcher whose larger-than-life personality was a perfect fit with the Netflix series Chef’s Table, will have a meat-centric (though not exclusively) menu overseen by local italophone and italophile Chef Kenny Huang.

The restaurant also features cocktail trolleys and ageing cases that look so sleek they might contain watches and jewels, not a bistecca alla fiorentina.

The Jungle Ballroom with its sunken lava-stone bar takes its cocktails and locally-sourced ingredients very seriously, and the infinity pool on the roof is likely going to be popular for taking in the cityscape. 

All of these spaces are designed to make Mondrian Singapore Duxton “a hangout” for everyone. When that happens, says Hauck, “it’ll be one of the biggest compliments. You should feel comfortable here.”

Bookings are now open from June 2023, though watch for updates and a possible earlier soft opening date.