Fiesty February - Park Yourself at This Hotel

If you frequent the hotspots on the Delhi Nightlife Grid, you know exactly where this is :)

The fabulous Park Hotel with one of my favourite haunts---AQUA

Updating Indian tradition with modern concepts of air and space, the Park New Delhi is a high-end destination of its own. The hotel was conceived around harmony between man and nature, based on a balance of the elements; that these elements are mixed in a manner redolent both of Indian tradition and modern minimalism is the triumph of designer Sir Terence Conran and Partners.

The lobby and public space maintains a cool, breezy feel, sheltered from the world outside by a white-glass façade. In-house restaurants and bars embody another element: Fire serves regional Indian cuisine in an atmosphere of leather and limestone, and the Agni, a watering hole with a 35-foot-long bar and smartly uniformed staff serving old favourites as well as Rose Martinis, Love Junk and other new-fangled drinks. The drinks, however, are just a prelude to the dance floor at the end of the bar.

Curves, curves and even more dramatic curves: Gently swinging its look and feel around a new design concept involving the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space.

Indeed. Upon entering the lobby, guests encounter a breathtakingly arced white space – designed as part of an overall interior concept by superstar British designer Sir Terence Conran and Partners – that plays upon the concepts of movement and transparency, thus representing the elements of air and space. The façades of white glass allow natural light in at the same time as offering an aesthetic shield from the world outside and a sheer curtain of glass beads wends and winds its way from the ground-floor restaurants toward the marble reception and beyond. Breaking the space’s sleek white are curved customised sculptural sofas, rugs and lighting in hot pink, a celebratory colour in India. Further contrasts to the purity of the space are provided by edgy contemporary art, such as a subtly placed projection screen that displays a specially commissioned work by British video artist Daniel Brown. Modern chairs by Palluca Italia and The Campana Brothers, as well as capsule shaped, neonesque lighting by British light designer Paul Cocksedge add an even bigger dose of current style to a space that is devoid of any straight lines.

Elements of fire and water are represented on the ground floor as well, in both the restaurant Fire and adjoining bar, Agni. – an arced, glass-beaded 35-foot long bar surrounded by low leather divans and deep tub chairs to sink into. Water makes a cool entrance in the restaurant Mist, which offers innovative Italian cuisine in a setting that echoes the entire area’s overall look. This time the glass bead curtain frames a palette of cool blues that segue into the hotel’s spectacular outdoor pool.

Taking the elements of air and space up again in the private spaces upstairs, the walls of the sweeping arced corridors describe these elements in words and symbols, leading guests towards their sleekly modern guestrooms. Dark-timber floors offset the light-coloured décor, which is beautifully accented in bluish-purple and orange. Meditative, airy effects are created with specially commissioned works by emerging artists such as Anay Mann and Sandeep Paralkar.

While the hotel’s impressive curves are admittedly dramatic, additional features as displayed in the three opulent banquet rooms or what the designs of the upcoming spa hold in store all promise a harmonious feeling of wellbeing. Even extending as far as the elegant restrooms in the foyer, where geometric pink tiles exclusively designed by Dominic Crinson adorn a space that is usually only given a passing glance. An elemental feel is indeed omnipresent and one which unfailingly vacillates between the majesty of the past and the sleek simplicity of today. One might say this is mirrored in India as a whole.