Park Hotel (Modern Indian Palace by SOM)

Gallery: SOM’s LEED Gold Park Hotel is a Modern Indian Palace

Andhra Pradesh, India recently announced the completion of the country's first LEED Gold certified hotel, the Park Hotel, Hyderabad. Described as a 'Modern Indian Palace', the new eco hotel designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM) combines local craftsmanship and high performance design into a 250 room hotel. The hotel is designed to be ultra modern and sustainable, yet it is influenced strongly by local vernacular architecture - read on for a look inside!

The Park Hotel in Hyderabad is distinguished by its impressive facade of perforated metal, which serves as a sun and rain screen that protects the building’s high-performance windows. Daylighting, orientation, solar gain and local climate were all taken into account during the design of the building to maximize light and minimize heat gain. The mostly square volume wraps around an elevated large courtyard that provides protection for the hotel’s pool, restaurants, bars, retail shops, and other mixed-use programs. Rooms enjoy expansive views of Hussain Sagar Lake and the city yet are shielded from receiving much sun.

SOM collaborated with Stevens Institute of Technology’s Product Architecture Lab in Hoboken, New Jersey in order to minimize the hotel’s energy consumption — and they succeeded in reducing it by 20%. The team also collaborated on incorporating an on-site waste water treatment plant that processes both gray water for reuse and waste water before it is released back into the city’s sewer system. The hotel is the first in India to achieve LEED Gold certification and it has been awarded Best New Hospitality Project of 2010 from Cityscape India.