Ed Tuttle, the Architect Behind the Aman Look
An American in Paris who began in Hong Kong in 1968, Ed Tuttle designed Amanpuri, Amankila and Amanjiwo. A profile of the architect who set the template for the Asian resort.
Ed Tuttle was born in Seattle on 11 August 1945 and died in Paris on 21 June 2020. In between he designed a group of hotels that, more than any others, fixed the way the luxury resort in Asia looks: low, calm, built of local materials and arranged as separate pavilions.
From Hong Kong to Paris
He graduated from the University of Washington in 1968, worked briefly at Gump’s design studio in San Francisco, and that year joined Dale Keller and Associates in Hong Kong. In 1977 he founded Design Realization in Paris with his partner Christian Monges. His first work for the hotelier Adrian Zecha, in 1981, was an update of Villa Batujimbar in Bali, which led to the black-tiled pools that became a signature.
The Aman years
His best-known work is the first Aman, Amanpuri in Phuket, opened in 1988 with Thai teak-house pavilions. We tell its history in How One Phuket Hotel Invented the Modern Asian Resort. In 1991 he worked with Kerry Hill on the Sukhothai in Bangkok. Amankila in Bali followed in 1992, then Amanjiwo in Java in 1997, Amangani in Wyoming in 1998, Amanjena in Marrakesh in 2000 and Amanbagh in Rajasthan in 2005. Outside the group, he designed the interiors of Park Hyatt hotels in Paris and Milan in the early 2000s.
A plain method
His style is usually described as simple, orderly and tranquil, with comfort as the first concern, and with respect for the building traditions of the place. He worked with local architectural types, not against them. The same approach, in a different hand, can be seen at Aman Kyoto, designed by Kerry Hill Architects, who also designed Aman Tokyo and Amanemu.
The easiest way to understand his work is to stay at one of the early hotels: at Amanpuri in Phuket, or at Amanjiwo in Java.
