GOING DESI

The Greenpark Hotel Bengaluru celebrates artistic diversity in its design language.

- ALISHA LAD

A legacy hospitality brand in South India, greenpark's fundamental belief - superior service backed with a pragmatic approach to hospitality comes to the fore in their business hotels in Hyderabad, Chennai and Visakhapatnam. For Bengaluru, their focus shifted to elevating the design quotient for the brand.

THINK LOCAL, CRAFT CONTEMPORARY

Inheriting an empty shell building in JP Nagar, a prime residential area dotted with swish restaurants and brewpubs, the clients approached Sandeep Khosla and Amaresh Anand, Principals at Khosla Associates with an 'India Modern' theme. The 160-key hotel was to be designed in two phases - the lobby, all-day dining restaurant, standard and club rooms and the banqueting facilities in Phase 1 and a rooftop specialty restaurant, pool deck and bar in Phase 2.

Sandeep Khosla, Founder and Principal of Khosla Associates, outlined their philosophy in conversation with Hotelier India, noting, "We wanted a non-intimidating atmosphere in the hotel, even though we were upping the design ante. Our mandate was to bring in a fresh lease of life. With this big responsibility of aiding greenpark by giving them a unique design direction, we felt that this direction should be 'Indian'. And for it to be truly Indian, we must work with the crafts and arts of the country."

The designers were thus keen on 'thinking local' for the hotel, in terms of materials, furniture and accessories - even reducing their carbon footprint during the construction process as far as possible. A local carpentry and metal workshop worked on the fit-out of all 160 rooms, as opposed to the business hotel norm of placing bulk orders to China. As Khosla elaborates for Hotelier India, "Every piece of furniture, accessory and artwork was sourced from India. I believe that this is a simple yet important choice to make when it comes to being sustainable."