Project Description
“From the carvings on the outer wall, to the glittering brass, teak and marble lobby, to the rosewood of the rooms, everything which meets the eye is a pleasant reminder of all that is beautiful in South India”
Taj Coromandel in Chennai, one of our earliest hospitality projects, continues to celebrate the local architecture of its region. Completed in 1974, for The Indian Hotels Company Ltd. (presently known as the Taj Group), the design for the five-star deluxe hotel was inspired by the local ‘gopuram’ temple, native to South India. The reverence for traditional Indian architecture and motifs was integral to the project and manifests through the carvings and indigenous materials adopted in the design.
The hotel has 230 rooms, a large foyer embellished with brass chandeliers and a ballroom that can seat 1200 persons. The building is long and big but consolidated into a centred visual experience through the use of a jaali that holds the building as one-piece. The shorter side of the hotel façade features a massive white marble mural of a ‘kalpataru’ – a wish-fulfilling divine tree in Hinduism, made up of 340 pieces, each 4 x 2 feet, that renders a sense of grandeur to the exterior façade. The carvings on the outer wall, the glittering brass, teak and marble lobby pay tribute to the heritage and culture of South India.