Mercurio Design Lab S.r.l.: Winner of World Design Awards 2021. Dusit Thani Laguna, formerly known as Laguna National Golf and Country Club—one of the prominent golf and country clubs in Singapore since its inauguration in 1993—is a premier urban golf resort integrated with a five-star luxury hotel. A renowned golf destination that hosts international tournaments and major championships, the state-of-the-art union of a world-class golf club and a Dusit-Thani branded hotel introduces a new set of social and recreational privileges for golf members and hotel patrons.

The property features an American-designed course regarded as more than normally difficult with no less than four lakes, undulations which often make the course resembles a green moonscape, and clusters of sculpted sand bunkers lying in wait for even the most experienced golfer. It was this charged image that inspired Mercurio Design Lab’s design for the hotel and existing clubhouse.

Inspired by the gentle undulation of the golf course, the sleek, curvilinear form of Dusit Thani Laguna soars over a six-story hotel and three-story redesigned clubhouse. It thrusts up out of the landscape itself, sweeping up from the ground to create a shelter for the hotel before surging on to cover the existing clubhouse, splaying out in the middle to provide an entrance canopy on one side and the frame for the all-day dining room and ballroom/ banquet room on the other. The roof which makes the architecture does not just enclose the structure but becomes the body.

The swooping image—an overarching roof and a shared glazed facade— although ostensibly edgy, blends smoothly with the scenery. The awkward marriage and the discrepancy in heights of the two functions are disguised by a single and unified roof, shaped to complement the surging landscape of the resort. The architecture then appears less violent to the natural surrounding as it looks like it is one with the golf course.​

From the golf course, the left side of the building houses the hotel with standard rooms and a group of penthouses with private terraces. On the same side lies a gorgeous pool that spans the entire length of the hotel. At the right side of the building is the clubhouse, where players can relax after a round of golf. The center area holds the golf club lobby, the all-day dining, and the ballroom and acts as a central volume. It kind of separates the two, the hotel and clubhouse, but also serves as a link emphasizing Dusit Thani Laguna as the perfect space for sports and recreation, catering to golfers and leisure-seekers alike.

In the context of design, there was not much technical difficulty in accomplishing the project, except for the roof’s unusual form that becomes the main challenge. After extensive technology research, the roofing, built of cementitious fiberboards and a marine-grade membrane, displays a seamless surface with no visible joints. The structure then stands formidably with sleekness, seen from the outside to the inside, presenting a unique aesthetic character that commands anyone’s utmost attention. An optimal visual effect is achieved both from afar and from a closer look from whatever angle it is viewed and takes a life of its own, encompassing the club and hotel functions under one dominant, exciting sculptural form, complementing the gorgeous natural scenery.

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.

Project Details
Firm
Mercurio Design Lab S.r.l.

Project Name
Dusit Thani Laguna

Architect/Designer
Massimo Mercurio

World Design Awards Category
Hospitality Built

Project Location
Singapore

Team
Kimberly Liu

Country
Italy

Photography ©Credit
©Mercurio Design Lab S.r.l.

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Mercurio Design Lab S.r.l. (MDL) is an award-winning Italian design studio that creates avant-garde concepts inspired by the vibrancy of Asia. The team is composed of passionate architects, engineers, designers and artists who integrate art with technology in their design process, while respecting the three fundamental criteria: the functional, the aesthetic and the social.

With an Italian spirit and rich cultural heritage that originated in Rome for more than 50 years, MDL creates new milestones and commit with great passion to bring ideas and solutions into the fields of Architecture, Interior Design and Industrial Design.