Green architecture – The Park Hotel in Hyderabad, India

The recently completed The Park Hotel Hyderabad, the flagship hotel for The Park Hotel Group, has achieved the first LEED Gold certification for a hotel in India. This 49 382 square-meter (531,550-square-foot), 270-room hotel infuses a modern, sustainable design with the local craft traditions, and is influenced by the region’s reputation as a center for the design and production of gemstones and textiles.

The building’s three sides wrap around an elevated central courtyard that can be accessed from the hotel lobby. This flexible outdoor area is protected from strong winds, and serves as an extension of the restaurants inside. It features a private dining court and a swimming pool, which can be seen from the adjacent areas and the nightclub below, with moving patterns formed by light passing through the pool’s water. The outdoor courtyard was designed to be a multifunctional space accessible from the lobby, restaurants, and bar that surround it. Elevated three stories above ground, this veranda provides views to Hussain Sagar Lake and the city.

Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM), a New York-based architectural firm, the project is distinctive for its profound implementation of sustainable design strategies, with special attention paid to the building’s relationship to its site, daylighting and views. Solar studies influenced the site orientation and building massing, with program spaces concentrated in the north and south facades, and service circulation on the west to reduce heat gain. The hotel rooms are raised to allow more expansive views, situated on top of a podium comprised of retail spaces, art galleries, and banquet halls open to guests and visitors.

The facade provides a range of transparency according to the needs of the spaces inside. Perforated and embossed metal screens over a high-performance glazing system give privacy to the hotel rooms while allowing diffused daylight to enter the interior spaces, and provides acoustic insulation from trains passing nearby. The opaque areas of the cladding shield the hotel’s service areas from public view.

The final design solution is a computer-derived pattern composed of custom panels that could be fabricated through a programmed laser punch machine that the fabricator had purchased. The pattern creates a range of gradients that change from open or “perforated” to closed or “embossed” shapes. For example, the south façade has more open perforations while the west has more closed embossed shapes due to increased solar exposure. The shape of the facade’s openings, as well as the three-dimensional patterns on the screens themselves, were inspired by the forms of the metalwork of the crown jewels of the Nizam, the city’s historic ruling dynasty.

The interiors continue the jewelry concept – with silver, gold and gem tones throughout. Many of the interior surfaces, including the mosaics, reflect local designs, which were implemented by artists and craftsmen from the region. The materials used in construction and interiors of the 7 stars Park Hotel in Hyderabad have a significant amount of recycled materials.

While the building envelope impacts the energy infrastructure, the building systems impact the water infrastructure. Since the government of India has instituted mandatory water conservation measures for all new buildings, the Park Hotel adhered to these guidelines by installing an on-site water treatment facility. The on-site equipment treats sewage and grey water generated in the building and uses it for irrigation on site. Additionally, water storage tanks in the building collect and distribute rain water for non-potable use inside the hotel.

The final selection for glass is 35mm insulated glazed unit by China Southern Glass, thicker than the industry standard IGU of 24mm. The unit make up was a 6mm laminated outer light, at 24mm air gap, and a 5mm inner light with a double low-e coating on the outer surfaces. Aside better heat insulation, the glass was chosen because it offers better sound insulation. The cooling loads generated from solar heat gain were approximately 20% lower than the baseline model.