Abstract:
Caravan Serai is an extension to Suryagarh, a luxury resort in Jaisalmer. The aim is to make
it a destination resort with a craft centre for traditional crafts. It would house various retail
outlets, food and beverage outlets showing all the produce of the region. The intention is to
create a bespoke experience for the guests with an old town appeal. The design of
Suryagarh is conceived like a desert fortress taking inspiration from the past where the
region as a vital trade post along the historic Silk road. The traditional crafts extension is
intended as a lower town to the fort. The craft clusters are composed of courtyard houses to
evoke the quintessential lower town charm of Jaisalmer. Through the study of traditional
town patterns in the Thar desert, the relationship between the city, fort and the market are
cognised. These relationships inspired the circulation of the extension. the local character of
courtyard houses and their surrounding landscape forms the major premise. The extension
and the hotel would create a highly contextual built form rooted in traditional, existing in a
blissful harmony where one accentuates the other.
