Port Blair is the capital city of the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. An addition of 30 guest bedrooms with common facilities for reception. Lounges, dinning and service areas was designed to fit on the grounds of an existing guest house built and designed by the local Public Works Department.
The new guest rooms are sited on the sloping portions of the site, while the public facilities including the front garden are on the flat ground adjoining the main road at the top of the site.
The guest rooms are layered along the contours of the slopes and interlocked vertically in section. Access is provided to the rooms by stairs placed across the slope and connected to corridors running below each layer of rooms. The corridors are lit and ventilated by small open-to-sky courts adjoining each room.
Unrestricted view of the sea is provided from each room through windows running along the length of one wall. The roofs slope from below the window sill of one layer of rooms to the top of the windows of the lower layer of rooms. This protects the interior spaces from the heavy monsoon rains and regulates the natural airflow through the open courts and corridors.
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- Between the Earth and the Sky - an Architectural Journey In Portfolio of Works, MN Ashish Ganju. London, 1998.