The Park, Kolkata unveils the new lobby and recption

This Conran & Partners designed public space at the hotel creates a new paradigm in design using Chakra theory as their inspiration.

Change is the only constant and so The Park Kolkata evolves to present a dramatically different look with the opening of its new lobby and reception space.  It gives new meaning to accepted notions.  It puts forward a new vocabulary.  It begins a new dialogue.  It redefines design.

World renowned design gurus Conran & Partners were commissioned to revitalise the look of the original and first Park Hotel, The Park Kolkata, situated on the busy and iconic thoroughfare of Park Street, Kolkata.

The 149 room Park Kolkata, opened in 1967;  the year that the Beatles came to India to learn transcendental meditation. Their designs are consciously influenced therefore by meditation and Indian psychedelia of this period. 

Hindu meditation links the seven bodily chakras to the seven colours of the spectrum and it is these colours that inform the new design language.  Culminating in the lounge area with a dramatic play of black and white; a negation of all colours.

The Hotel reception is a simple yet bold space which can be reached via a street café which serves an eclectic menu of international street foods. The Street, which links Park Street to the reception space, takes you on a colourful journey through the spectrum beginning with red and ending in violet, the final colour of the spectrum, in the reception.  Or you drive past a wall of plasma screens flashing myriad colours from the colour spectrum.

The walls of the reception are clad in pure white marble and both the ceiling and welcome desk are finished in silver leaf.  An effective combination of Swarovski ceiling lights and Tom Dixon mirror pendant lights illuminate the rich violet coloured dual shot silk drape behind the welcome desk and violet furniture, providing guests with a dramatic and luxurious arrival experience.  The mono-chromatic welcome desk is further highlighted with a dramatic sculpture from the eco friendly designer duo Doris Zacheres & Yehel Chirimian of Monsoon Heritage – which uses the hues, tones and textures of living nature to build a more complex if visually minimalist piece.  Gunjan Gupta’s centre table at the reception embodies The Park’s commitment to using innovative furniture design companies that engage with sustainability both materially and socially, as Gunjan effectively uses ancient silver leafing techniques to give the table a modern incarnation.

Experiments in light and colour continue in the lounge, with its stark white marble floor and flowing sculptural ceiling made from clear Perspex rods of varying lengths.  It also witnesses the dramatic use of black & white at the end of the journey through the colour spectrum.  The furniture is a selection of European modern design classics, in black and white upholstery, including a number of Fritz Hansen Swan chairs in geometric patterned fabrics.

The effective use of dichroic glass further enhances the play of light and colour.  Like a long Donald Judd sculpture, it’s set within a bold diagonal partition wall, reflecting all the colours of the spectrum, separating the lounge from the reception and leading guests to the lifts. This wall also incorporates an aquarium of iridescent tropical fish.

The journey continues upstairs as monochromatic corridors lead to colourful bedrooms.  The rooms take its accents from shades of one colour of the chakra colour spectrum. The bathrooms, partially enclosed behind a curved black gloss lacquered partition, are finished in lustrous white glass mosaics.

Join us on this journey through the colour spectrum as The Park Kolkata opens it’s doors to a new look, a new avatar, a new space with new energy.

“It creates a new paradigm in design. The design sensibility is guided to lift the spirit, create positive energy and uses these forces to establish a new and different customer experience”, Vijay Dewan, Managing Director, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Ltd.

For further information please contact:
Ms Diya Basu, Director, PR & Communication, dbasu@theparkhotels.com
Ms Mousumi Banerjee, PR Officer, pr.cal@theparkhotels.com
Ph:  2249 9000/4004 9000
Fax:  2249 4000
The Park, 17 Park Street, Kolkata 700016