raas jodhpur, rajasthan: presentation by ambrish arora of lotus

‘raas jodhpur’ by lotus praxis initiative, jodhpur, india image © raas jodhpur

on a recent trip to rajasthan, india, designboom got up close and personal with new delhi-based practice lotus. we visited the studio and had a close look on the new works the practice is currently working on. ambrish arora, principal of lotus, gave us an in-depth presentation on raas jodhpur, a boutique hotel located in the heart of jodhpur, india. the project was a collaboration between lotus and bangalore-based firm praxis. together under the name, lotus praxis initiaive, arora and rajiv majumdar from praxis, underwent their first major commissioned work. to date the establishment has won best holiday building at the 2011 world architecture festival (WAF) and was chosen as one of the best hotels in the world by conde nast traveller for the gold list 2011.

arora explains the design process and the major principles behind the construction: ‘we feel the world is moving towards authenticity. today, resorts are creating theater stages of the past which is a pseudo revivalist movement. it’s not about packaging something, it’s about expressing what is relevant today. and how can we give back, to the people what is theirs. so you get a relevance to what they have… the new framing the old and the old framing the new.’ 

ambrish arora will speak at the india design forum march 9 – 10, 2012 in delhi.

designboom met ambrish arora in lotus’ delhi-based office in december 2011 video © designboom

entrance of raas image © raas jodhpur

raas jodhpur with mehrangarh fort image © raas jodhpur

endless swimming pool image © raas jodhpur

raas at night image © raas jodhpur

image © raas jodhpur

dari khana image © raas jodhpur

designboom actually stayed at raas for new year’s eve. see our original article on the hotel raas jodhpur here.

here are a few images of the building process:

ambrish at work image © lotus

demolition of existing site image © lotus

restoration of site image © lotus

construction of site, collaboration with local artisans image © lotus

contemporary jaali detail by lotus architecture image © raas jodhpur

historic motif of jaali   -the making process image © designboom

jaali making image © designboom

jaali detail image © designboom

if you wish to visit raas jodhpur soon, there is a great event in february 17th – 19th 2012, the sufi festival at nagaura, jodhpur. featuring the exponents of rare living traditions of sufi expressions from across india and beyond, at the magical fort of nagaur ahichhatragarh.