CENTRAL MANSION INTERIORS RENOVATION
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Completed 2019
80 rooms hotel, 4 stars +, 6000 sqm
This room is an ode to the golden era of Cambodia
To qualify and renew the guest experience within Colonial Mansion, the first step was to define a narrative celebrating glorious event of the past, the meeting of the glorious new Cambodian culture embodied by King Norodom Sihanouk and the intellectual west symbolized by Jackie Onassis Kennedy.
FCC Angkor is an iconic boutique hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia, created in 2000 around the former French governor’s mansion, then transformed into a restaurant. While the original design from architect Gary Fell was a successful modern counterpoint to the mansion, its overall flow was unclear for the guest and it had major issue of privacy.
Our mission was to modernize and extend the property based on the scheme from Gary Fell and to add a real sense of arrival for the guests.
CM2 would tie the colonial style of CM1 but in a slightly more modern approach while avoiding the potential issues inherent to this space.
In November 1967, Jackie Onassis fulfilled her “lifelong dream” of visiting the ancient ruins of Angkor.
For 5 days Ms Onassis banqueted surrounded by local dignitaries, admired Cambodian craft and culture and was treated to live renditions of Prince Sihanouk’s original jazz compositions.
"It would be a sacrilege to merely redecorate it— a word I hate. It must be restored, and that has nothing to do with decoration. That is a question of scholarship."
—Jackie Onassi—
As a nod to this, the interiors of Central Mansion draws inspiration from Ms Onassis and her visit to Cambodia.
It references her chic and understated style and revels in the dichotomies of beauty – dark and light, refined and robust, classic and contemporary.
By combining a restrained palette of white, greys and neutral tones with luxurious materials such as marble, stone, wood and brass, the intention is to create a harmonious yet homely space that not only embodies Ms Onassis’s spirit, but is a home for which she herself would want to live in.
