Architect Behind Thailand’s ‘White Lotus’ Motels Discovered Success in Asia

• Invoice Bensley, now 65, left the US and moved to Asia shortly after commencement.
• The architect and designer has constructed over 200 motels, together with three featured within the newest season of “The White Lotus.”
• Bensley says he is not sure he might have constructed a comparable portfolio again within the US.

Some careers are formed by likelihood. For Invoice Bensley, it began on commencement day in 1984, when a classmate talked about he was transferring to Singapore.

“It sounded so unique, I requested if I might go too,” he instructed Enterprise Insider.

That spontaneous determination launched a forty-year structure profession through which Bensley has constructed over 200 motels in 30 international locations. That features 9 initiatives for 4 Seasons motels, one in all which — 4 Seasons Koh Samui — is featured within the third season of the massively widespread HBO sequence “The White Lotus.”

The odder, the higher

Bensley’s design mantra is straightforward: “The odder, the higher.”

His designs are recognized for being whimsical, theatrical, and deeply immersive.

At Cambodia’s Shinta Mani Wild — a jungle retreat that opened in 2019 — Bensley and his workforce put in a 400-meter zipline over the jungle that transports visitors to luxurious tents.

At the InterContinental Khao Yai in Thailand, about 120 miles northeast of Bangkok, his workforce turned deserted practice carriages into resort suites.

From farm to fame

Bensley was born in California and grew up on a small farm, elevating bees, quails, and chickens and rising greens and mushrooms. His household spent weekends touring in a trailer, with summer season journeys turning into cross-country adventures.

“I used to be fortunate to learn to survive within the wild,” he says. “That formed every little thing I do.”

Bensley earned a grasp’s in panorama structure from California State Polytechnic College, adopted by a level in city design from Harvard. On his commencement day in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he did not have a job lined up. “I could not even fathom a profession in hospitality design again then,” he stated.

However he adopted his classmate’s recommendation and traveled to Asia.

Competitors was scarce

Quickly after arriving in Singapore, Bensley landed a job with an American panorama structure agency. His first main challenge was the Bali Hyatt.

At 29, he arrange Bensley Studio in a Bangkok parking storage. “In 1989, there weren’t very many panorama architects on the town,” he stated.

His portfolio expanded shortly, and after a couple of years, Bensley obtained a proposal to design a resort in Hawaii. “The 4 Seasons Hualalai was my breakthrough challenge on the Massive Island of Hawaii,” he stated. Building for the resort on the Kona-Kohala coast started in 1993.

In 2000, Bensley’s firm landed one other fee with the corporate, this time to construct 4 Seasons Koh Samui. The location was lined with a whole bunch of coconut bushes, some over 50 years outdated. “When the resort was completed, all 856 bushes have been nonetheless standing,” he stated.

In the present day, that resort, that includes villas with personal swimming pools nestled into the tropical jungle overlooking the Gulf of Thailand, is within the highlight as one of many backdrops for the third season of HBO’s “The White Lotus.”

He has excessive reward for the present’s look: “A few of the backyard cinematography is out of this world and appears even higher than actual life,” he stated.

Monkeys used to reap coconuts on the positioning the place the resort now stands.

“So the monkey statues you see in ‘The White Lotus’ are my designs that pay homage to the agricultural historical past of the island,” he stated.

In 2023, Mike White, the author and director of “The White Lotus,” frolicked in Thailand, scouting areas and learning Thai tradition. Bensley says they grew to become mates.

Manufacturing booked the resort out for 2 months final yr for filming.

“Mike has now filmed at three of my motels in Southern Thailand,” Bensley stated, referencing the Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort and Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas.

Designs impressed by Asia

Bensley says his travels throughout Asia — from Thailand to Cambodia and Indonesia — have formed his designs.

“In the present day, I believe I perceive Southeast Asia rather well,” Bensley stated. He stated that studying to talk Thai and Indonesian has helped him navigate the totally different cultures and talk his design imaginative and prescient extra successfully.

Surroundings performs an enormous function, too. Tropical areas give designers the chance to blur the boundary between pure panorama and structure, stated Alex Yuen, a lecturer at Harvard Graduate College of Design.

“Outdoors of Hawaii, the place he has labored, there are usually not many areas within the States that may match the setting that he thrives in,” Yuen instructed BI.

Value can also be an element.

“Given the quantity of ornaments and particulars discovered within the designs, you merely won’t get that type of deal if one have been to develop properties within the US,” Yuen stated.

Bensley is not certain he might have constructed a portfolio similar to what he has amassed in Asia if he had stayed within the US.

“In my expertise, working within the USA is so very rather more restrictive and cost-focused,” Bensley stated.

Not slowing down

Bensley has no regrets about transferring overseas. “I am glad I made the daring transfer to work in Asia proper after college,” he stated. “I am proud of the life I’ve constructed.”

Regardless of his packed schedule, Bensley is aware of how one can find time for the issues he loves. He paints, tends to his backyard, enjoys fishing, and likes to journey. He lives in Bangkok with Jirachai Rengthong, his associate of over 35 years, and 5 Jack Russells.

He all the time travels with a sketchbook. “Sketching is the important thing to understanding structure or any type of area,” he stated. “If you happen to can not sketch it, you aren’t understanding it. iPhones are ineffective as a studying instrument.”

Bensley, now 65, has no plans to go away Thailand or cease working. This yr alone, he is juggling over 10 new initiatives, with resort openings spanning the UAE, China, Puerto Rico, Turkey, and India.

“I’m by no means going to retire, as I’ve essentially the most attention-grabbing job on this planet.”