Monolith Resorts, Bhimtal
A summer retreat in the Kumaon Hills, the Monolith Resort is located on Bhimtal Lake 400 kms. Northeast of Delhi on a four acre steeply terraced site. Its facilities include restaurants, a conference center, sports and recreation, along with a series of landscape layers that seclude the private sections of the resort across the steep hilly ramparts of the site, while the public areas congregate towards the lake. Central to its design is the idea of the stone cottage along the street. Rough-hewn stone walls inside and outside the building supporting pine ceilings and GI sheet roofs. Each displays the elements of a hill house – stone hearths, fireplaces, dormer windows and rooftop verandahs.
Hotel Country Inn Corbett park
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Kalmatia Sangam Spa, Almora
A 20 acre property in the Kumaon on the road to Binsar, off Almora, Kalmatia Sangam was set up as a resort with 12 cottages spread along the hillside. The addition of an ayurvedic spa at the crest of the hill surrounded by a deodar forest and with sweeping views of the snow-clad Himalayas, began in 2012. The facility promotes all sorts of holistic therapies, and the project is therefore designed as a multi-faceted spa with facilities for massages, baths, steam, gym and yoga. A solarium and independent cells for meditation are incorporated within the roof structure. The architectural design is intended to promote a harmonious and organic connection with the surroundings. The layout encourages residents to use the sit outs, meeting areas, pool and an accessible roofscape to engage with the landscape.
Devigarh Palace Udaipur
A sixteenth-century palace, 20 km north of Udaipur, is converted into a luxury hotel. The structure is built on a series of rock outcroppings that are concealed by the outer symmetry of the façade.
Bath House
The new spa built on location at the Monolith Resort combines into a hybrid of a stone and steel structure; its construction atop the old swimming pool change rooms is designed to provide complete spa facilities - massage, steam, Jacuzzi, and water therapy, within its confined area. A solar room is additionally provided above, along with a sun-deck overlooking the pool.
Courtyard Housing
nder this project, ninety-nine Type V units were designed within a restricted urban site. Separating the vehicular movement from the pedestrians, the urban design creates grouping of apartments around circular courts – places where privacy is more guarded, but which allows restricted access to the play areas, meeting and community spaces.
Institute
Institutional architecture is streamlined to efficient planning and a strong conceptual idea developed within a local cultural stream. Two projects, the District Institute for Education and Training was built outside Gangtok, Sikkim on a steep mountainous terrain.
School
The School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi is located on a flat rocky ground south of the city. However, a deep natural ravine cuts diagonally across the site. This accommodates the shared facilities for the school, while classrooms and studios fall along an orthogonal grid. The low spreading building complex was designed with residential courtyards where students congregated.
Retreat
The purpose of the retreat is to activate the values of nature in children by living together, through informal learning and recreation, and an experience of the outdoor life. The place is therefore seen first as a sanctuary, a place structured by the elements of landscape, and only secondarily by its architecture. Lower walls use local stone and rise up to blend brick into the structure.
Mangoli Work Retreat, Nainital
The Mangoli Apartment Complex functions as a work-from-home structure where 40 apartments are assembled around a common pool and recreation area, with a common work station on the lower floor. The idea was to make a wholly immersive building experience of a shared insular dense and entirely self-sustained community.
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