- Bill Bansley, now 65 years old, left the United States and left for Asia shortly after graduation.
- The architect and the designer have built more than 200 hotels, including three features in the latest season of “White Lotus”.
- Bansley says he is not sure he can make a comparison portfolio in the United States.
Some careers are in the form of coincidence. For Bill Bansley, all of this began in 1984, when a classmate mentioned that he was going to Singapore.
He told the business insider, “It seemed very foreign, I asked if I could go too.”
The unprecedented decision began a 40 -year -old architecture career, in which Bansley has built more than 200 hotels in 30 countries. It includes nine projects for four season hotels, one of which – four seasons are featured in the third season of the widely popular HBO series “The White Lotus”.
Koorm, once in four season resort Koh Samoi, was designed by Bansley. Four Seasons Resort Koh Samoi
ODDER, is better
Bansley’s design spell is easy: “Odor, better.”
Its design is known for being a cunning, theater and deep.
Cambodia’s Shanta Mani in Wild-a jungle from a jungle opened in 2019-Benasley and his team put a 400 meter zipline on the jungle, which takes guests to luxury tents.
at all Intercontinental lost in Thailand, about 120 120 miles northeast of Bangkok, his team turned Train carriers abandoned in a hotel’s suit.
Bansley designed a zipline to transfer guests to Shanta Mani in the Wild Jungle retreat in Cambodia. Shanta Mani Wild
From form to fame
Bansley was born in California and grown in a small form, nurturing bees, quail and poultry and growing vegetables and mushrooms. His family spent the weekend traveling on the trailer, turning the summer tour into cross -country adventures.
“I was lucky to learn how to live in the wild.” “He shaped everything.”
Bansley obtained a master in landscape architecture from California State Polytechnic University, after which he received a citizen design degree from Harvard. Massachusetts had no job in Cambridge on his graduation day. “I couldn’t even know the career in the hospitality design at the time,” he said.
But he followed his classmate advice and traveled to Asia.
Bill Bansley was in Indonesia in 1985, a year after he moved to Asia. Bill Bansley
The competition was too low
Immediately after arriving in Singapore. Later, Bansley got a job with an American landscape firm. His first major project was Bali Hiat.
At 29, he established a Bansley studio in the Bangkok Parking Garage. “In 1989, there were many landscape architects in the city,” he said.
Bansley set up his first studio in the Bangkok Parking Garage, now, he runs a team. Bill Bansley
Its portfolio spread rapidly, and after a few years, Bansley received an offer to design a resort in Hawaii. “I had a progress project in the larger island of Halali Hawaii,” he said. Construction for the resort on the Kona Kohala coast began in 1993.
In 2000, Bansley’s company landed another commission with the company, this time for the construction of four season Koh Samoi. The site was covered with hundreds of coconut trees, which is over 50 years old. “When the hotel was over, all 856 trees were still standing,” he said.
Today, this tactic, which features villas with private ponds, is located in a tropical forest in the Gulf of Thailand, HBO’s “The White Lotus” is in the spotlight as one of the back drops of the third season.
He praised the appearance of the show: “Some cinema of the garden is out of this world and it looks better than real life.”
The monkeys used to harvest the coconut on the site where the resort is now standing.
He said, “So the monkey statues that you see in ‘White Lotus’ are my designs that pay tribute to the island’s agricultural history.
In 2023, Mike White, the author and director of “The White Lotus”, spent time in Thailand, screened places and studied Thai culture. Bansley says he became friends.
Production booked a resort for two months last year for filmmaking.
“Mike has now filmed my three hotels in southern Thailand,” Bansley said, citing Anantara Boffat Koh Samoi Resort and Anantara Mai Khovocat Villas.
Bansley shared some back -store about monkeys in four season resorts, Samoi, in the latest season of “White Lotus”. Four Seasons Resort Koh Samoi
Design affected by Asia
Bansley says its entire Asia trip – from Thailand to Cambodia and Indonesia – has created its design.
“Today, I think I really understand Southeast Asia.” He said learning to speak to Thai and Indonesia has helped navigate different cultures and interact with its design vision more effectively.
Environment also plays a major role. Alex Yin, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, said tropical locations provide designers with the opportunity to fade the boundaries between natural landscapes and architecture.
“Outside of Hawaii, where he has worked, there are not many places in the states that will match the environment in which he flourishes,” Yin said.
The cost is also a factor.
“Given the jewelry and details found in designs, you will not get such a deal if you have to prepare properties in the United States,” said Yuen.
Bansley is not convinced that he could create a portfolio, compared to what he had collected in Asia if he had been in the United States.
“In my experience, working in the United States is very binding and costing,” said Bansley.
Bansley lives in Bangkok with her husband and five Jack Russell. Bill Bansley
Is not getting slow
Bansley has no regrets to move abroad. “I’m glad I immediately took school. After taking a bold step to work in Asia,” he said. “I am happy with the life of my life.”
Despite its filled schedule, Bansley knows how to make time for the things he likes. He paints, leads to his garden, enjoys fishing, and likes to travel. He lives in Bangkok with fellow Jerchai Rening, and five Jack Russells.
He always travels with Scotchbook. “Sketching is the key to understanding architecture or any kind of space,” he said. “If you can’t make it out, you are not understanding it. The iPhone is useless as a learning device.”
Bansley, who is now 65 years old, has no plans to stop leaving Thailand or working. This year only, he is doing more than 10 new projects, with the launch of the hotel spread over the United Arab Emirates, China, Puerto Rico, Turkey and India.
“I will never retire, because I have the most exciting work in the world.”