Tree of Life, Jaipur
Architect – Nimish Patel | Abhikram
Area – 7.33 acres
Cost – 4 crores
Construction year – 2008–2011
This resort project lies on the outskirts of Jaipur city, in the midst of Aravalli hills. The site has very interesting topography, with part flat and part hilly land.
It contains 14 villas, one reception block, one restaurant block and one spa block. All the blocks have lot of open space in between, to retain the existing character of the land. The buildings are designed by the Mr. Nimesh Patel, in traditional Rajasthan style of architecture.
The landscape concept is to create a natural ambiance for these structures using native plants. All the villas have individual gardens, whilst four also have their own pools. Each has a particular villa tree and the villa is named after it. The leaf or flowers of that tree are also used in the interiors as motifs on various surfaces.
The pool is situated between the two hills at a plateau. The water from the swimming pool overflow comes down as a 3m high water fall, which forms a pleasant view for the restaurant terrace.
The planting strategy is to merge the site with the surroundings. Big shade trees are used along the paths. Only the functional open spaces have the turf, while the rest have low maintenance planting.