With the news that Andaz Hotels was heading to Singapore dropping into our inbox just days before we would be in town, we naturally had to include a stop in the Ophir-Rochor district on our itinerary to check out what we’ll be looking at come opening in 2017.
We’ll get to construction shots in a second, but first, here it is: the dual-towered DUO development Andaz will be part of, designed by Ole Scheeren, the architect also behind Bangkok’s Mahanakhon Tower. Curving along a half-moon base, the exterior of the two towers is covered in hexagons, with extensive gardens and at least one pool on the roof. Read on for much more.
Completion still being a few years away, construction is of course in the early stages, but the site was a hive of activity, and the basic footprint of the development is already visible. Covering an entire city block, Andaz Singapore will be a ten-minute walk down the road from the city’s iconic Raffles Hotel. The tower you see on the left, also visible in the first rendering above, is the Art Deco Park View Square, worth a visit for its phenomenal period lobby.
As you’d expect, DUO will house the usual mix of residences, offices, and retail in addition to the hotel. The DUO website talks about 352 rooms, in line with the “more than 340 rooms” Andaz told us there would be. The mention of an outdoor swimming pool (perhaps the one in the rendering?), signature dining on the 38th floor, and the signs at the construction site talking about a viewing platform attached to the hotel, give us hope that views will be killer from the rooms too – something we definitely enjoyed over in Tokyo.
DUO is part of the master plan to reshape the Ophir-Rochor district to “complement the existing Marina Bay and Raffles place CBD”. Contrast is definitely there, with just across the street these low-rise houses and shops.
There will be a direct connection to Bugis MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station from the hotel, which makes it easy to connect to places like Marina Bay and Orchard Road. It’ll be a while we reckon before renderings of the Andaz interiors will surface, but you can be sure to see them there when they appear. In the meantime, ogle the additional renderings below.