Modern Balinese designs

Modern Balinese designs

Although elite travellers to Bali may not have heard of Karl Princic, most would be familiar with his beautiful gardens and landscapes.

Princic was the master plan consultant for the 100-hectare Bali Golf and Country Club project in Nusa Dua, which opened in 1991. He was responsible for the hardscape and softscape design and coordination of all the landscape areas associated with the golf course, clubhouse and common development area.

The project won the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Design Excellence Award in 1993.


Not like your regular pool: Kayu Manis Jimbaran.
Princic was also involved in the Amanusa Resort and the Wantilan Villas projects within the Bali Golf and Country Club – both in the Nusa Dua resort belt.

Says Princic: “It was architect Kerry Hill who found the Amanusa Resort site and undertook the project. It was through him that I did the Amanusa as well. I was at the time designing the club house for the Bali Golf and Country Club when I met Kerry.”

Princic was then hired for the coordination of the “landscape integration” of the 3.5-hectare Amanusa site within the overall Bali Golf and Country Club development. The job included full softscape construction documentation, site supervision, landscape budgeting and tender analysis, coordination of key hardscape and lighting details.

As for the Wantilan Villas, Princic was the landscape architect for Phase 1 of the private housing component within the Bali Golf and Country Club development. It included the three Balinese-styled, golf-oriented luxury villas spanning 3,000sq m each. Princic worked in association with Kerry Hill Architects and Jaya Associates (interiors).

“Kerry didn’t see himself spending weekends at the Wantilan Villas site so I was offered the opportunity to work on landscaping.”


Inviting: Kayu Manis Nusa Dua (above and below). – Resort pictures courtesy of KPD/Intaran Design.
At the same project, Princic came to work with Malaysian architect Cheong Yew Kuan in Bali, who was leaving Kerry Hill Architects at the time and soon became a close friend.

By 1993 when the Amanusa project was completed and the Bali Golf and Country Club project wound down, Princic had started to concentrate on building up his company, Karl Princic Design, established in 1989. Some of his early projects included the Begawan Giri Estate originally owned by Bradley Gardner and his wife.

But talking about the Begawan Giri Estate, which opened in 1998, brings back bittersweet memories for Princic.

Apparently, he had worked on the “original master plan” of the resort and “spent five years on the project, coming up to Ubud every weekend”, often with his collaborator, Cheong. Princic’s role included on-site design and building coordination for the entire site including the amphitheatre and spa.

However, Gardner apparently regarded himself as the resort’s chief designer. While Cheong’s name is mentioned in certain publications for contributing to the original design, Princic’s role is hardly ever acknowledged.


“We were quite good friends at the time,” says Princic, “But when you are the owner, you can say what you want.” But the landscape architect regards any omission of his contributions as “really, really rude”.

The property is now owned by famous Singaporean entrepreneurs Ong Beng Seng and Christina Ong under the “Como” luxury brand. More money has been pumped into the resort, now renamed the Como Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri. Villas range from US$347 to US$4,400 per night.

Princic has moved on to other projects since the Begawan Giri episode. But that project is still listed in his design portfolio.

And presently, property developers in the Middle East have beckoned. The Chedi Muscat in Oman is Princic’s latest baby. And judging from the rave reviews of the “stunning water gardens” at the Chedi Muscat in publications like Spa Style Arabia, his design concepts may eventually dot the desert landscape.