Akbar Bhawan
Akbar Bhawan, formerly the Akbar Hotel, is a building in the Chanakyapuri locality of New Delhi, India which houses the South Asian University and offices of the Government of India's Ministry of External Affairs. Designed by Shiv Nath Prasad in collaboration with Mahendra Raj, it is one of Delhi's best known examples of brutalist architecture and bears semblance to the Unité d'habitation in Marseille, France. Inaugurated in 1972, it was a hotel of the India Tourism Development Corporation before its conversion into an office complex in 1986. Named after emperor Akbar The Hotel was noted for its use of innovative decor that blended contemporary designs with traditional Indian art and handicrafts.
Location
The building is located on Satya Marg in the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.Design
Akbar Bhawan was designed by architect Shiv Nath Prasad and built by Mahendra Raj. It mirrors the architectural style of Le Corbusier and is one of India's best known examples of brutalist architecture. Built with prestressed concrete, the building has few decorative motifs keeping in line with the brutalist aesthetic. It has a raw concrete finish, uses brise soleils and features an exposed staircase at its far end. The use of a transfer girder in the transitional floors of the building allowed for the creation of a column free lobby, a feature that came to be adopted widely in hotel design. The use of pure geometric forms in the building has been attributed to the influence of rationalist architecture whereas the exposed nature of the building material is thought to have been due to financial austerity rather than the brutalist aesthetics.Comprising 13 storeys, a service floor separates the common rooms from the accommodation and amenities such as its restaurant, a garden and a theatre were on the roof and the building's floor plan closely resembles the Unité d'habitation in Marseille. The interior design for the building was done by Laila Tyabji and Dale Keller.
The Akbar's interior design and decor were noted for their blend of western and Indian elements. The hotel's logo was taken from the design in a lattice screen at Sikandra, Agra. The windows in the lobby were decorated with wooden beads from Channapatna, Karnataka and its walls featured swords and scimitars from Rajasthan. The interior decoration also featured kalamkari prints in its conference room, Birbal, and used Rajput, Mughal and Kangra miniature paintings and Tibetan thangkas in the suites. The trends set in interior decor at the Akbar became widespread in India's hotel and hospitality industry in later years. Its coffee shop, Madhuban, was noted for the Mithila murals decorating its walls which was a pioneering attempt to commercialize and give the artform a modern identity.
The structure has however been criticized as being squalid and visually unappealing whereas the use of concrete and glass causes high indoor temperatures during power outages.