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Although many guests arrive at the hotel by boat, those who arrive by car pass through a fortress-like gate before alighting at the huge gate to the left and walking around this open courtyard, with its beautiful sunken garden filled with a stylized marble lotus, before entering the lobby.
Against the backdrop of the Aravalli Range, topped by the ruins of the Monsoon Palace, and the spectacular City Palace, a gondola silently navigates the waters of Lake Pichola.
Painters of the Mewar School specializing in miniatures produced colorful and exquisitely detailed wall murals like this in the traditional style for the corridors and walls of suites. Elephants, camels, kings, processions, warriors, and other aspects of the lives of Udaipur’s maharajas are all featured. We were constantly amazed at how Indian craftsmen could interpret and execute our patterns for paving and tabletops.
Rooted in Mewari traditions, the sun motif figures prominently in the
resort, here formed from a shield and daggers.
A typical Rajasthani overlapping star motif made of inlaid marble greets guests just outside the arrival gate.
Our drawing of an elephant sculpture.
This exquisite marble panel was obtained from one of the rambling antique “farms” on the outskirts of Delhi.
Two caparisoned stone elephants flank the 30 foot (9 meter) tall entrance gate to the hotel.
An evening view from one of the hotel’s suites of the lap pool and the gigantic onion dome of the lobby, lit by a cut lead crystal chandelier in the form of the sun’s rays.
The architect for Udaivilas was Nimish Patel of Abhikram, a world- renowned expert on traditional Rajasthani architecture and vernacular building methods, who started on the project in 1985. We joined his team in 1994, working until the completion of the hotel in 2002. The lavishly appointed interiors were implemented by the Canadian Jeffrey Wilkes of LTW Designworks, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In conceptualizing gardens for the hotel that would complement the open-sided rooms and fluid spaces (admirably suited to the hot, arid climate) and ornamental features of Nimish Patel’s architecture, we drew inspiration from elements of Udaipur’s ancient palaces: spacious courtyards adorned with huge slabs of black and white Indian marble, reflecting pools and flowing water, formal lawns, statuary and geometric motifs. In order to convey a rich, dream-like ambience as well as our design intentions, we also borrowed the traditional Mughal miniaturized style of painting in our concept drawings. Using false flat perspectives, a riot of colors accentuated by some 300 sheets of gilt and fanciful ancient symbols for trees and human figures, we came up with 148 feet (45 meters) of drawings. Most of our ideas were adopted. One exception was our design for a black and white swimming pool wrapping continuously
around the entire building. Instead, a black and white stepped lap pool became the centerpiece of the main courtyard while a separate 689 foot (210 meter) long pool was built along the edge of the spa, allowing for fantastic views.
The hotel’s domes are reflected in a pool in the most northern garden of the hotel.
On a rise behind the arcade of the Courtyard of the Dwarves, located at the far north of the hotel complex, is a very old building with high, solid walls open to the sky, once used for the rather cruel practice of pitting wild animals against each other. Spectators looked down on the action from the safety of their perch on high.
Mounted at the end of the long arcade outside the entrance courtyard is another symbol of the sun, this one handmade from brass and mounted
on a black granite base.
LTW Designworks deftly created this small open-to-the-sky courtyard that leads to the lobby. As the quarries of the white Maharani marble have long been depleted in India, pure white marble had to be sourced from Greece.
Normally things Balinese do not travel well internationally, but this
oversized tasseled umbrella looks perfectly at home here.
This old neem tree (Azadirachta indica) in the entrance courtyard was one of the few trees originally on the site. We worked hard to retain every single tree.
On arrival at the main entrance gate, visitors alight beside a grand metallic fountain shaped like the sun.
A fine drawing of a Rajasthani maiden.
Altogether there are five open garden courtyards at Udaivilas, made possible by the rarity of rain in this part of India. The first, adorned with a pure white marble stylized lotus in a reflecting pool set into a formal garden, and an old neem tree, lies inside the main entrance gate (pages 50–1) and leads to the gorgeous cobalt blue domed reception lobby. The most formal courtyard, surrounded by suites with their own private sunning and dining gardens, is dominated by the lap pool (page 59).
Another (above) is based on the old Mughal water gardens at Jaipur.
For this Mughal-inspired courtyard we used red and green varieties of Alter-nanthera bettzickiana, a bushy perennial herb, in geometric planters surrounding a central fountain reached by intersecting pathways.
Our drawing of one of the water features that were built on the retaining wall facing the lower levels of the spa.
The purplish red flowers of the orchid tree (Bauhinia blakeana) add vivid splashes of color to the most formal of the five garden courtyards and relieve some of its symmetry.
Candles grouped on a round table in a foyer, the brainchild of veteran lighting designer Anthony Corbett, appear to float on the cascading water feature beyond.
Reflections in a still water body of the streetside arcade and the bulbous dome behind add an element of romanticism to the hotel at night.