Hotel in Woods

School Of Architecture And Landscape Design, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu and Kashmir

Project idea

The site provided was agricultural land. The idea was to design a Hotel in an agriculture field in such a way that is becoming a part of it. The ground coverage has been kept minimum to avoid exploitation of the agriculture field by designing a cantilevered building. (Concept: Inverted pyramid)

Generally, high rise uses glass on their facade. The impact of birds leads to the cause of the death of many birds. Keeping this into consideration the facade was covered with wooden louvers to avoid such impacts.

In short, instead of a dead mass in an open field, a lifted environment-friendly hotel is designed so that it compliments the context.

Project description

The brief was to design a hotel accomodating 250 hotel rooms with three different restaurants and with a large banquet hall.

The structure is inverted and cantilevered.

The entrance is through the first floor (there is a 5m drop from the road level). The entrance lobby + reception leads to the main restaurant on the ground level through a series of levels. Each level accommodates a different purpose.

Between the accommodation and lobby areas, the recreational zone is designed with a facility of swimming pools and indoor sports complex and two restaurants.

In accommodation, two views have been provided. First gives the view of outside while the other gives a courtyard inside developed at the center of the hotel.

Technical information

The whole structure is made of RCC with shear walls. The steel girders have been used to provide the columns for upper levels and balance for the cantilever of 10 m.

The facade is covered with wooden louvers to act as a shading pattern and solve the bird striking issue in a high rise.

Cross ventilation has been made possible by creating various wind tunnels.