Salient feature of the project

Name & Location : Aria Hotel , Nashik , Maharashtra , India

Costs: Approx. 45 lacs INR Built up area : 150000 Sqft.

Project Description:

The site for this hotel is gently contoured rising up 9M towards the south with the entry at the lowest level in the north. Situated in the wine growing region of India, the north faces a large river and a dam with hills beyond. The southern side rises up into hills in close proximity to the site. The clients requirements included a large banquet hall of 15000 sq ft in addition to 60 rooms and other facilities

Since the banquet hall would have large gatherings its access is planned directly from the road frontage at the lowest level of the site. The public facilities including the hotel lobby, restaurant, bar, spa & business centre occupy a higher level 6 metres above the banquet hall entered directly from an ascending approach road.

The rooms at the higher level are oriented to face the river in the north or the immediate hills in the south with open circulation spaces & naturally ventilated & skylit courtyards. Each level of the hotel is integrated with the natural contours of the site, minimizing land cutting & landfill. No soil was taken out of the site or brought into the site while constructing, making the construction both economical and sustainable. Over fifty percent of the walls are built with natural black basalt stone available in close proximity of the site. All the circulation spaces are naturally lit & ventilated rendering the building energy efficient. Solar panels on the rooftop, over the banquet kitchen & parking areas generate fifty percent of the electrical energy required for the hotel. Rain water harvesting tanks, with water recycling & reuse further add to the sustainable methods adopted for the design of this hotel. All the rooms, restaurant, spa & banquets open into sheltered balconies & decks that provide outdoor usable spaces whilst minimizing the heat gain into the internal volumes.

At each floor the rooms form rectilinear cuboids that are angled differently creating balconies that frame the picturesque surroundings with 2 floor high suites at the topmost levels. Painted in terracotta color stucco, these frames are juxtaposed with the black basalt stone walls of the lower floors.

Aria Hotel is designed contextually, responding to the site contours, the views of the surroundings, the climate & the materials creating a web of experiences within its different volumes.

Material & Construction Details:

Each level of the hotel is integrated with the natural contours of the site, minimizing land cutting & landfill. No soil was taken out of the site or brought into the site while constructing, making the construction both economical and sustainable

PT construction for banquet to get almost 17M column free space & restaurant area too is planned in PT to avoid unnecessary columns to support the swimming pool.

Large balconies twisting in design is created with almost 4M of cantilever

Single loaded corridors with courtyard assist cross ventilation & natural light. Courtyards are covered along with all non-accessible roof are covered with solar panels. S-W courtyard wall is covered with mangalore terracotta jali to avoid S-W rain to enter whilst allowing breeze & light to come in.

Architects, MEP consultant, Structural consultant, PT design team & Site team working in sync to have an Integrated approach toward design and it’s execution.

Double course walls used externally as well as internally between rooms act as insulation & reduce sound transmission.

Room levels are painted in terracotta colour stucco & are juxtaposed with the locally sourced black basalt stone walls on the lower floors.
Landscape gabion compound walls are also made up of locally sourced black basalt rock.

VRV units are used for air conditioning wherever necessary to reduce consumption

LED lights are used internally as well externally

Terracota jali  is used to cover the S-W wall of the courtyard which not only facilitate natural light & ventilation also creates interesting patterns on different time of the day.

Special Feature:

Nashik receives high rainfall during monsoon months of June to September. Thus water is   harvested in a tank as well as recharged pit to sustain through all other months. Self-sufficient with water catchment areas where in storm water drain system is incorporated and ground water recharge pits are introduced. The entire waste water is recycled. All waste is directed to a sewage treatment plant, recycled and used for flushing and gardening.

Nashik’s tropical location & high altitude combines to give a mild tropical climate. Summers are hot with temperature soaring almost upto 35’C. Solar panels are fixed on roof as well as on covered parking areas to take care of 50% of electrical load of the entire resort.

Existing contours are undisturbed with minimal intervention with no additional soil is brought or removed from the site
60% of the site is left green

Air conditioning is restricted to rooms, restaurants, banquet halls & pre function areas. In these areas too VRV units are fixed to reduce power consumption.
All lobbies & corridors are naturally lit & ventilated with no additional mechanical ventilations.

In all indoor & outdoor areas LED lights are used to reduce power consumption.

Entire resort barring the basement areas used for services & parking are naturally lit & ventilated.

Deep recessed windows with double glazed unit help in reducing heat gain.

The building design is low maintenance with stucco plaster and paint finish.

Landscape is done with regional plants that require minimum water.

All materials used internally too are low maintenance with tiled flooring, textured paint finished walls.

Orientation and recessed windows contributes to 12.46% savings in the overall energy consumption.

Natural ventilation contributed to 4% savings in the overall energy consumption.

Daylight optimization contributed to 3.5% savings in the overall annual energy consumption.

High performance VRV based system contributes to 1.6% savings

Solar power for meet 50% of the requirement. This contributes to 7.4% savings.