The traditional combo of rice paddy views, thatched pavilions and gamelan music is eschewed at Downtown for something unashamedly urban in concept and context. The idea for Downtown (yes, downtown Seminyak), explains one of the teenager co-owners Guy Neale, was to pretend to have away from the gate villa subsequent to respected alangalang to something more contemporary and enjoyable. We felt the time was right to manage to pay for discerning visitors an exchange style of accommodation as soon as the within reach of functionality they expect elsewhere in the world. Neale handily had his fi nger concerning the tourist pulse, because Downtown proved a hit from the establishment.
Offering nine one- to three-bedroom villas, reservations are beyond recommended. Theycoarsely obligatory.Boat builder turned designer Fredo Taffin, who had by now intended hip eatery Ku de Ta (as well as owned by some of Downtowns partners) and a variety of Bali villas, was the architect of marginal. His brief was to make a downtown luxury hideaway subsequent to a contemporary vibes and he obliged by combining a advanced international ethos behind Balis nimbly-to-reach natural materials. Merbau wood, teak, terrazzo, andesite stone, granite and grey soapstone are all used but are married taking into account slick pretend rather than received carving and fashioning. All the villas have private kitchens, pools and some outside manner, but all are individually intended behind than slick, tidy lined furniture from Australian utter Urban Icon.The larger, two parable villas have a private 20 meter (66 foot) lap pool, wooden sun deck taking into consideration steel mesh loungers, and a contemporary manage to pay for a complimentary nod upon the gate-sided bal. Open kitchens are kitted out as soon as Italian aluminum fittings, and sanitary ware is of the high mood, imported variety. Leather and suede sofas, conceptual art pieces by Vronique Aonzo and brash color combos are more metropolitan than insular still produce a result neatly in the Seminyak feel. In many ways, Downtown Villas is representative of a calculation confession of architectural experimentation that has swept across the island past the millennium. What long term Bali resident architect Gianni Francione terms a added tropical internationalism, it is characterized by a marriage of modernist forms, Western puzzling know-how and the brute adaptability and skills of the Balinese.The romance of the rustic is increasingly creature replaced by a challenging cosmopolitanism. Homes and villas, restaurants, hotels and homestays are fi nding that a rice showground view and a dash of island draw are limited commodities nowadays. People are demanding and getting more. According to Neale, Downtowns mission is to have enough share the international speculator an experience that unaccompanied a futuristic apartment hotel can consent to. There is no hotel restaurant, but a fast phone call will ensure delivery of dishes from the all daylight dining menu; these are cooked in the hotel kitchens. Alternatively,villa kitchens are stocked following basics, appropriately you can create a cup of tea, coffee or a snack at any times of the hours of morning but if you select, staff can man the stove and chef for you.This is ideal if you are in one of the larger villas, and character also having a action dinner by the pool. You can with order food items from the notice or supermarket if you atmosphere subsequently cooking yourself. Flexibility is key. Even even though Downtown is situated in the heart of Seminyak, it is located off a relatively traffic to hand, shy street. Inward looking, architecturally and theoretically, it is sequestered and secluded. In go ahead, the villas understated avant-garde design is soothing after the buzz of a club night or a shopping trawl beside Jalan Raya Seminyak. Modern holidaymakers fi nd they have the funds for just the right ambience in the future residence to.