Gallery Hotel

Gallery Hotel is hip, or rather, HIP ('Highly Individual Places'), a designation bestowed by writer Herbert Ypma when a hotel becomes the destination rather than a base camp for the destination. As Singapore's first boutique hotel, the high-rise Gallery Hotel rightfully shook up the land of mild-mannered towers with its post-modern nod to cubism. The hotel's main tower is outlined with primary coloured frames that jut out from the façade making it look like a Fisher Price circuit board. Inside, the hotel drew inspiration from the utilitarian spaces of the old warehouses that once lined the Singapore River. The rooms are metallic and spare and their greatest flourishes are the views of the river, best found on the Observatory level. Ah yes, the infinity pool is more than a glorified swimming hole.