Leisure

Hotel Narendra Bhawan in Bikaner pays a luxurious homage to the city’s history

MAR 24, 2017 | By Ayush Kasliwal

Narendra Bhawan is my first large scale interior design project. For this 1,00,000 sq ft, 82 room and five level hotel, the proprietors wanted the theme to be “landscape of memories” based on the life of the last Maharaja of Bikaner, Narendra Singhji. I worked with a large team of consultants, including lighting expert Jitender Marwah, graphic designer Bena Sarin and artists Kriti Monga of Turmeric Design and Shirley Bhatnagar.
Since there was little we could learn about the former king as there was limited documentation on him, we interpreted a lot based on our imagination. Take for instance, the flooring on the pool side and the outer veranda, which was sourced from Portugal – probably the same tiles used in the Ajit Chowk at Junagarh Palace, Bikaner.
We avoided a coordinated “designer” look and adopted a clean style. Most of the artworks are original and the furniture, vintage while some objects were custom made at AKFD. Hotelier Karan Singh has been a great help and a collaborator in every sense of the word. The owner, Manvendra Singh Shekhawat too gave us the liberty to use his resources, even after we tried his patience on many occasions!
Website: www.narendrabhawan.comAlso read: Hotel 28 Kothi in Jaipur is an idyllic haven