Beautiful Courtyards Inside The Udaivilas!

"The design is an assimilation of the spaces in traditional royal residential palaces, using Mewari architectural elements," says architect Nimish Patel, who with partner Parul Zaveri, conceived the building.

Udaivilas, Udaipur is a 30-acre resort located on land along the lake where the maharanas of Mewar once began their hunting trips. The predominantly single-story structure rises with the slope of the land, creating different levels and stunning views of the 17th and 18th-century island palaces and the long, sprawling City Palace. The existing site had extensive natural flora and fauna.

The planning of the resort aims at achieving a transition of spaces by using irregular shapes and forms. Bright colours have been used throughout the property in order to consume the city’s scorching heat. All the courtyards have been developed as paradise gardens, taking its influence from the Rajput Gardens. Technically, there are a lot of courtyards present but the major ones are the following three :

• One features a pond with large, carved marble lily pads.

^{The Floating Lotus Pond}

This is the entrance courtyard. The centrally located 17th century Mor Chowk (Peacock Courtyard) gets its name from inlaid glass mosaics of peacocks on its walls.

This may be called as the forecourt and the simple act of getting off the vehicle and entering the hotels becomes an exhilarating experience. The equal division of plantations embedded in circular boundaries, along with the artificially created lotus pond, brings out a symmetrical balanced layout. The chattris placed at the corner of this pond furthers add on to its traditional look. The drama created by the colours of the pond, that is, blue and white, is very eye catching and is bound to take away your attention. Who wouldn't want to get clicked in such pretty aethetics?

• One courtyard has a dramatic, rectangular swimming pool rimmed with alternating squares of black-granite and white-marble steps leading down to the water.

^{A pool with checkered granite and marble steps anchors one of the three principal courtyards.}

It consists of a rectangular swimming pool, surrounded by lush green foliage. The black and white checkered steps along the periphery of the pool lends it an old look yet stylish.

Orange coloured chattri shaped umbrellas compliment the outline of the surrounding building.

• One features a shrine, that is the Rai Anga

^{Another courtyard, with water flowing from one channel to another, and finally towards the shrine.}

The Royal Courtyard has a shrine, which is the oldest part of Udaipur, that depicts Sun. A large water body, with sculptured fountains at the corners, lead to a series of small water bodies in the form of stepping. This has been inspired by the Nishat Bagh, Srinagar, thus incorporating an Islamic feature.

The landscaping techniques have been used, considering the slope of the site. And it has been able to design a series of interconnected spaces through various steppings and pavements, leading to the shrine which acts as the focal point. Canopy shaped trees mark the plane of every stepping along with square green patch. Pillars along with stone fencing marks the boundary of the steps, giving direction of movement.

The relationship between the horizontal and vertical planes gives magical spell to all the courtyards!