The Leharsa Retreat is situated on an undulating site in Suhagpur district (Madhai) of Madhya Pradesh, where the average temperature is 25oC. Designed on a contoured and irregular site, it overlooks a river and hills beyond.
Instead of the manicured look of most modern resorts, we wanted to retain the site's naturalness in its entirety and create the least obtrusive spaces that would blend within the landscape
Ar. Akshay Selukar
The architecture merges the nine luxurious hotel rooms into the landscape. Avoiding any cutting of the contoured land, the individual cluster of rooms are located at different levels and spaced to allow each room an unrestricted view.
Using the site to advantage, all the public facilities and the rooms are river and pool side oriented in response to the amazing view and climate. The layout correlates to the organic settlement of the villages in the vicinity. Materials such as bamboo, timber and locally available stone predominantly form the structures, creating an eco-friendly and sustainable design solution.
All the buildings are stilted to allow the undulating land to be retained in its entirety with the natural landscape, local palms and other trees. Vehicular movement is restricted to a small part of the site. The entire resort is perceived as a minimal intervention in the existing landscape by the layout and the material palette of the built forms that homogenously integrate themselves with the site.
