Our brief was simple: design a building that befits a legend, while capturing the things that make the Gold Coast so unique.

Studio 54. That’s all you need on your CV as a hotelier. Ian Schrager took everything he learnt from catering to the world’s jet-set at his legendary 70s New York nightclub and distilled it into his iconic Mondrian hotel brand. Schrager pioneered the “boutique hotel,” creating a whole lot more than just somewhere to bed down for the night. And the great news is that, thanks to the Vitale Property Group, Schrager’s legendary hotel empire is heading for Australia’s own Burleigh Heads.

We saw an opportunity to find a new way of thinking about Australian coastal architecture, in this instance, “bare-foot luxury.”

A place as special as Burleigh Heads cries out for an architectural response that forges an intimate connection between the transcendent natural surroundings and the built environment. The undulating profile of the two towers we’ve designed reflects the voluptuous lines of the sparkling sand dunes and imposing headland, while archways soaring above vast rooms and arcades at ground level echo the ancient caves that honeycomb the coastline.

So in the Mondrian Gold Coast, we’ve made the transitions between inside and outside seamless. To be standing within this space in dappled shade cast by architectural forms overhead, watching the waves crash on white sand below is to be immersed in this pristine environment. Cool stone underfoot plays off against warm timber accents in the building’s interiors, just as the hefty trunks of the towering eucalypts in the ancient forest find contrast in Burleigh Heads’ weathered basalt foundations.

Everything here ties back to the beach. We’ve evoked the appeal of living in a beach shack but created a place that embodies the hedonism you’d expect of a Mondrian venue. Guests can step straight off the sand onto the wave-like external spiral staircases, and wind their way up to the water garden on top of the building’s three-storey podium. With a cocktail from one of the outdoor bars in hand, they can wade into the pool or hold court in one of the cabanas against the backdrop of Pacific surf crashing on golden sands.

This epitomises the “Burleigh way of life.” For those who check-in and never want to leave, permanent residences that share facilities with the hotel mean they can sign up for a holiday that never ends.

The Aboriginal name for the Heads is Jellurgal, meaning ‘honey.’ According to the Kombemerri creation story, the giant, Jabreen, took a swim to wash after he’d devoured a sticky hive of native honey. He fell asleep in the waves, and his body formed Burleigh Heads.

The Kombemerri people have called Burleigh home for tens of thousands of years. They recognise what the first European surveyors of the area most certainly did not. When first charted in the early 1800s, the unimaginative new arrivals dismissed it as “useless dune country.” So the first European visitors sailed on by and missed the point.

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