The pool of the sun

Most rooms - and bathrooms - at The Claridges Surajkund have a view. The hotel’s design supports its positioning.

Business resort” may sound somewhat of a contradiction, but what else would you say of a hotel that expects you to sit in a jacuzzi — with or without a glass of cold beer — with your laptop? At the new Claridges hotel in Surajkund, just a short drive from south Delhi, the last is an attractive enough prospect. And there is more for those wanting to unwind after a hectic day. The pool (with the jacuzzi in a corner) is strategically located on the second floor — with a clear, uninterrupted view of the green ridge that forms Delhi’s backbone and is its lungs — and it overflows into a smaller “puddle”, a channel really, placed within which are several humped loungers. It’s the perfect arrangement for those who don’t have the energy for a swim but won’t mind reclining in the soothing waters with a magazine — or the minutes of a meeting.

 

At a time when high-end leisure travel is facing its gravest hour, plush hotels worldwide are looking to prefix their “resort” tags. Focusing on the meetings and incentive business, they are hoping to bring in guests not merely with well-equipped business centres, wireless Internet and “value-for-money” pricing, but also with a greater

emphasis on stylish design, cutting-edge or contemporary art collections, plusher rooms and baths, restaurants, spas and even novelty features like skywalks.

At The Claridges Surajkund, this duality is supported by the hotel’s design, conceived by the reputed, Bangkok-based P Interiors and Associates (PIA). With several design awards under its belt, PIA is, in fact, getting to be a favourite with Indian hotels. The group has previously worked with The Oberoi, New Delhi, a couple of Trident Hiltons, The Lalit and so forth, and its sensibilities become clear when you look at some of these properties.

The emphasis is on clean, straight lines, a minimalistic feel, and a design philosophy that dictates that everything should have a view, including the bathrooms. At the new hotel, this is indeed the case. The look is glass and marble or wood and long corridors and spacious rooms with little loose furniture give you a feeling of space. On the other hand, this is no cold and impersonal space. The facade completely belies the “business hotel” positioning with its charming resortish air — a low-rise, tiered look (though a tower block is yet to come up), exposed tiles, circular balconies with bougainvillea creepers.

Inside, the minimalism is tempered with elements of the local, a strategy which works quite well in giving a geographical and cultural context to the “international” look. The use of the baoli motif, for instance, (steps leading down to a medieval well) specifically in areas around the pool and the yet-to-come up spa, is a case in point. It plays upon the hotel’s location — Surajkund, or the “pool of the sun” — and becomes a refrain in the design: bordering ceilings and pillars, on door handles et al. The spa, when it come up later this year, will feature this much more extravagantly.

The art is eclectic, discreetly placed and references the local again. Flanking the entrance are two large sculptures by Narender Pal Singh — inspired by sun worship in Surajkund. The first composition is in the form of a grid with 20 canvases, using symbols to celebrate Savita, or the sun, the giver and nurturer of life. The second piece exults at the sun’s power to heal and resurrect, even in a consumerist society bent on destroying creation, and has been inspired by the chant “Om Raktaaya Namaha”, which pays obeisance to the “one who emits red rays” that purify and heal.

Then, there is a collection by Suddhasattwa Basu at Oasis, the all-day diner, also highlighting local history and tradition (the creation of Surajkund by the Tomar Rajputs in the 11th century AD). There are terracotta sculptures by Shyamal Roy, over 8-feet tall, in the Bengal tradition, and there is also a set of 10 limited edition serigraphs by Thota Vaikuntham, showcasing his trademark Telangana women. But what you will no doubt be struck by is a mural in blown glass by London-based Reshmi Dey that attracts attention in the otherwise spartan lobby. Using individually blown and hand-crafted pieces (done partly in Mirzapur and Birmingham), Dey creates a vibrant work of irregular forms.

At night, the hotel transforms into a more sophisticated self. LED lights change colours — in the wall panels, along counters and in the fountain that comes to life in the central courtyard, around which the main structure has been built. But it is the rooms really that are the highlight of the hotel and give the “business” hotel its resort character.

One of the largest in the city — the average room size is a spacious 300 sq ft, almost double the size of a normal hotel room — most of these come with full-fledged walk-in closets, private balconies, flat screen televisions (with Internet), African teak or bamboo (that is easier to maintain in Indian conditions) wood flooring and bathrooms with glass partitions (and automated curtains) so that it is possible to look either at the TV or at the balcony and beyond from the comfort of your bathtub, if you so please. The suites are yet another world — the largest is a huge 2,800 sq ft — equipped with private terrace gardens where the hotel promises to hold personalised yoga classes for guests, if so requested.

But what you are also likely to be struck by are the “smart” features. This is truly a green hotel with all the systems (from the air-conditioning to lights, water supply and so on) linked to a single central one, which means that less energy and resources end up getting wasted. “When you lower the cooling in your room, for instance, the information goes to the entire cooling system of the hotel so that it cuts down on its working by that much, thus saving energy,” explains the hotel’s general manager Shanker Narayanan. Then, there are automated “Do not Disturb” and “Make my Room” signages. Unlike in other hotels where tags are used for these, here, a switch alerts your status not just to housekeeping but to other activity areas as well through the centralised system—which means that once the DND is switched on, even the intercom in a particular room gets automatically switched off and no calls can come in even if the operator makes a mistake.

There are Aluplast window frames to prevent energy loss, solar panels used for both heating and lighting, intelligent systems to control fire and gauge the levels of carbon dioxide in the parking, for room access control, to recycle almost all the water and so forth. If you do sit in that jacuzzi, you can even put all worries of wastage behind you.