Caravan Serai : An addition of a Traditional craft centre to a destination resort, Jaisalmer (Rajasthan)

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.