Landscape master

Landscape master

Bali’s famed resorts and clubs like the Como Shambhala at Begawan Giri, Amanusa, Bali Golf & Country Club all feature extraordinary tropical gardens designed by a certain Karl W. Princic.

Landscape architectural designer Karl W. Princic is considered somewhat of an enigma in his adopted homeland of Bali in Indonesia.

He has been in Bali since 1990 and now lives in an ultra-modern home set amidst Balinese cottages and padi fields in the sleepy hollow of Sidarkya near Sanur. He shares his newly-built home with his Indonesian wife and keeps mainly to himself.


Master of landscape art: Karl Princic has been living in Bali for 17 years. — JOHNNI WONG
Princic’s landscape schemes are in sharp contrast to the creations of the flamboyant Made Wijaya and Terry Hilliard, the other two well-known landscape consultants in Bali. The three are considered the best in the business for tropical landscape design.

Originally from California, Princic, 46, cites Thailand-based architectural designer Bill Bensley as the person who gave him his first break in the business when he was fresh out of college some 20 years ago.

Recalls Princic: “In California, you have to take an exam before you could call yourself a landscape architect. I was 25 when I took that exam and I ran into an old friend, Bill Bensley. He was wearing a batik shawl, looking like the world traveller.

“He told me how he was working in Asia and the greatest thing that he ever did was to get out of California. He was working for Belt Collins & Associates in Singapore at the time and he set up an interview for me.”

Princic adds: “I did have some reservations about moving to Asia. I told my parents that it was something crazy to do and that I was only doing it for a year – and now I am still here!”

Princic regards his academic training as “design intensive”: he was taught everything from “true design” to “plant material”. He graduated from the Californian State Polytechnic University in Pomona in 1983 with a degree in landscape architecture. He also completed courses in golf course design and construction techniques.

The main office of Belt Collins & Associates was in Honolulu and it had a branch office in Singapore. Princic spent three years with the firm as project manager.

From 1984 to 1986, he was a designer and project manager with Philips Brandt Reddick (PBR) in Irvine, California. In 1987, Princic served as a lecturer of architecture at the National University of Singapore.

“I came directly from California to Singapore. While based there, I had the chance to travel to Bali. And I quite liked it,” says Princic.

“At the end of the four years, I grew tired of Singapore, and moved back to Honolulu. At that time, I had clients who were developing the Bali Golf and Country Club. They said, ‘Come to Bali, do the project as a landscape consultant’. That was in 1990.

“The arrangements were flexible as I was the project landscape architect and at the same time, I had the freedom to open my own office. It was the perfect situation for me. I happily packed up and landed back in Asia, this time in Bali.

“I was really, really happy to be in Bali, and I still am,” says the architect.

Modern tropical style

Princic describes his style as “Modern Tropical”. Although he claims to appreciate what he calls the jungle style and the tossed salad style of landscape design, he considers them “not my thing”.

“I prefer to work in the context of modern architecture which is simple and restful,” explains Princic.

“I like and appreciate Made Wijaya and Bill Bensley’s work but that’s not what I do. Which is good, because clients looking for Made Wijaya’s style may not necessarily be our clients. My emphasis is more on ‘hardscape’ design with water features such as pools and decks rather than ‘softscape’ plants,” stresses the American architect.

“I prefer to make the landscape appear natural and not contrived – to look like it has been there all the while. Trees should appear to be truly existing there or to be naturally there. The landscape should not necessarily mirror modern architecture. I don’t believe plants should be planted in a ‘grid’.


Beautiful at night: The Bale Resort.
“We do get quite involved. Accent elements include modern sculptures, artefacts, primitive elements complement modern architecture very well; for example, nice old urns, sculptural fragments and architectural stonework – all goes well with modern architecture and modern landscape.”

Another of Princic’s design philosophy is to “limit the palette of elements”, for example, only one or two types of plants are used for group plantings.

Always in demand, Princic does not accept all jobs.

“Yes, I have turned down projects which I feel won’t turn out well. For instance, if a developer were to give me his plans and say he wanted some plantings here and there, in-between the buildings, I will tell him, ‘No’. I prefer to work together with the architect in coming up with the master plan from the very beginning. I don’t do left-over space.”