One of Rob Sample’s villa projects in Canggu is a stunning modernist take on Bali style.
Rob Sample strikes you as a man who’s discovered his raison d’etre. What’s more, in Bali he’s found the perfect environment in which to realise his visions. Like many creatives who have made this island their home, Sample’s first encounter with Bali was a serendipitous one – he was only supposed to be here for a limited period, acting as a design consultant for the recent Ku De Ta revamp in conjunction with Fredo Taffin, the architect behind the seminal Seminyak venue. That was a year and a half ago and Sample is still here. He has just finished two houses in Canggu and is currently working on a raft of projects with many more on the horizon.
“Actually, I was convinced I was going to be a restaurateur,” Sample confides. “I owned two restaurants in Sydney, but I got bored as soon as they opened - doing 350 covers a night wasn’t my thing and I quickly realised it was the design aspect I was into. I wanted to move onto the next project.”
We’re not talking just any eateries here – Jimmy Liks and Longrain are two of Sydney’s trendiest bar/restaurants. However, when Arthur Chondros approached him for the Ku De Ta project, Sample found himself on an island that was on the verge of a property boom. “I couldn’t have had a better first project than Ku De Ta – by the time I was halfway through the contract, I’d already been approached to do four new projects on the island and I knew I was going to stay.”
Not only was development taking place, but it was also the kind of development architects and designers dream of. “You get to design big things here – we’re talking like 700–900 m2 residences. In the West it costs millions to build a house like that but here, even though prices are increasing it’s still far cheaper.”
“Ten years on the road visiting the most architecturally exciting cities and regions in the world...”
Sample quickly set up a company in Bali, enlisting the services of what he describes as some of the most talented local architects and designers available. He acts as the creative director, providing a design vision, within whose broad bounds he lets his team cut loose. “It’s a nice way to work; we have all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas going into the overall mix.”
“...and a childhood spent being dragged around antique shops and houses by art collector parents.”
available. He acts as the creative director, providing a design vision, within whose broad bounds he lets his team cut loose. “It’s a nice way to work; we have all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas going into the overall mix.”
So what does Sample do? What’s his aesthetic? “I guess I’m a modernist really. A lot of 50’s and 60’s architecture and designs inspire me; you know… flat roofs and open plan living. I think it works really well in Bali.” He claims that his style is not Balinese per se, yet it clearly adheres to similar basic principles that necessarily derive from the topography and climate. “Everything starts with the site… I’m lucky in that my clients all have great plots – they’re elevated which means you get cross breezes and they have green belt views. When you have a block of land with good breezes, you don’t need air-conditioning or even fans, just high ceilings. If it’s oriented correctly, the air just flows directly through the whole house.”
It is no surprise that Sample is reluctant to categorise his style – having studied design in Australia, he spent ten years on the road, visiting some of the most architecturally exciting cities and regions in the world including Japan (Tokyo) London (where he hung out with Richard Rogers), New York, Germany and Spain. Add to this a childhood spent “being dragged around antique shops and houses” by his art collector parents and you begin to see the scattered ingredients that he has funnelled into his design philosophy.
“I’m a modernist but I love working with wood and stone – this is what gives my spaces warmth.”
The Ku De Ta refurbishment was an unprecedented success. Sample demonstrated his imaginative flair in creating a space that is warm, communal and intimate yet maintains an air of sophistication. Where before there stood an enclosed cigar bar, he created a semi-open space, doubling the length of the bar counter to 8 metres. Expansive wooden decking and paved terraces are furnished with low day beds and lounges set out in a rectilinear formation that encourages socialising. “I’m modernist but I love working with wood and stone – this is what gives my spaces warmth. There’s nothing nicer than sitting next to a massive stone wall inside a house.”
Sample has just finished the first of six houses in a multi-site project in Canggu, South West Bali and the five bedroom residence is already creating a stir. Sample converted the property from an existing four bedroom house, once again emphasising openness in his conceptual approach. “That house is all about the views it commands. You walk in across water and you can immediately see right through to the rice fields – in fact, you can see them from every part of the house, making it feel much larger than it is. The buyers have also leased 70 are of the facing land in order to secure their future views.”
The massive 18 x 6 metre pool is teak lined and, uniquely, has four infinity edges. “The pool was inspired by Japanese Onsen baths – they build these fantastic wooden baths where the water is just allowed to overflow.”
His other major project is Sentosa, a villa development in the trendy Petitenget area of Seminyak, for which he’s been asked to create a space housing a restaurant/bar/spa. “We came up with this really beautiful structure – it’s a 150 metre woven concrete screen enclosing a massive internal courtyard that houses the restaurant, gym and spa. It will have 10 metre high ceilings and internal trees.”
The woven concrete screen was inspired by the work of Austrian sculptor Erwin Hauer, a sculptor who created walls and architectural screens depicting repeated geometric patterns and whose work had largely been forgotten until recently.
It is clear that Sample brings with him a wealth of design acumen garnered from his travels and the luminaries he has encountered along the way. More than this, however, he has a feel for his locale. “Too many buildings here have nothing to do with the site – it’s like they’ve been designed in an air conditioned office and then just transplanted. For me, it’s the site that really determines what is going to be built.” And in Bali, Sample has stumbled upon a gold mine of good locations. “The Bukit [the raised plateau at the southern tip of Bali] has to be one of the most spectacular sites in the world. Where else can you sit on top of a 350 foot cliff overlooking some of the best surf on earth? I’m really looking forward to working up there.”
Judging by his record so far here in Bali, it will not be long before he applies his distinctive design sensibility to this area which so impresses him. So far, we have only experienced a small sample of what he is capable of and no doubt, there is still a lot more to come.
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