While most wilderness resorts aim for immersion, The Oberoi Vindhyavilas Wildlife Resort achieves something more considered—it creates resonance. Located just minutes from the core zone of Bandhavgarh National Park, the 21-acre resort explores how architecture can respond to place not through mimicry or camouflage, but through memory, materiality, and quiet monumentality.
→ LAND AS MUSE
Taking cues from the sacred topography of the Vindhya ranges and the tribal cultures that have shaped the region’s visual language for centuries, the design of The Oberoi Vindhyavilas begins with a powerful gesture: a towering teakwood door carved by Gond artisans—a threshold that announces both reverence and intent.
Beyond it, a soaring lounge lined with local Katni stone and washed in natural light opens gradually, designed
less as a hotel lobby and more as a modern-day baithak. This first space sets the tone: earth-toned materials, scale without spectacle, and a design rhythm that prefers pause to procession. The palette is pale, but never cold— soft beiges, hand-chiselled textures, and brass accents combine to create a refined neutrality that allows tribal artworks to breathe.
→ TENTED LIVING, REINTERPRETED
The resort’s 19 luxury tents and two villas are arranged to follow the natural contours of the forest. Each tent rests on a raised plinth of hand-cut stone—both for practical flood protection and as a visual nod to ceremonial chhatris. Scalloped canvas roofs, muslin-draped four poster beds, and woven textiles recall the royal caravans of central India, while the architectural form remains intentionally restrained. Inside, design meets storytelling.
Gond murals animate the walls, while the bath areas—each with a marble vanity and arched window—feature wildlife paintings by Rakesh Prajapati, a local artist capturing the region’s mythic intimacy with nature. Wide glass doors open to floating decks and private gardens planted with fountain grass, jasmine, and flowering kachnar trees blurring the lines between architecture and wildness, enclosure and openness.
→ A GASTRONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Design extends into the resort’s culinary programme, led by Executive Chef Sachin Kumar, who trained with the Royal Kitchen of Nagod. His approach is not just regional—it’s architectural. Menus are built around heirloom grains, forestgrown spices, and slow-cooked stews from the Baghelkhand repertoire.
Dining becomes part of the spatial choreography: morning tea is served beneath sal trees; bonfire feasts unfold at the Tree Court; and The Bush Kitchen—set by the lake—offers al fresco grills under a starlit canopy. The Royal Baghelkhand Dinner, a multi-course homage served on silver thalis, is staged as a ritual performance, complete with tribal percussion and traditional dress.
→ DESIGN IN DIALOGUE WITH ECOLOGY
Environmental sensitivity runs through the project’s bones. Stone-paved pathways are designed for water percolation. The lighting scheme uses only warm, downward-facing luminaires to preserve nocturnal habitats.
Buildings are sited to retain as many mature trees as possible. Even the decks were designed around existing root systems, allowing the forest to dictate form. The resort’s upcoming wellness wing continues this ethos. Planned as a series of indoor-outdoor pavilions, it will feature local stone, natural ventilation, and forest-view therapy rooms offering Ayurvedic treatments, outdoor yoga, and guided meditation.
→ CULTURAL ARCHITECTURE
At The Oberoi Vindhyavilas, design becomes a conduit for cultural connection. Guests can meet Gond artist Sukhiram in the on-site atelier, walk through Sarmaniya village, or attend storytelling sessions in an open-air baithak inspired by tribal gathering spaces.
These experiences aren’t decorative—they’re embedded in the architecture, transforming the resort into a space of cultural exchange. Here, luxury is not an aesthetic overlay, but a thoughtful response to land, lineage, and the quiet authority of place.
STRIKING FEATURE
Craft & Detailing:
Hand-carved Gond motifs on teakwood doors, tribal murals by local artisans, and tented suites with private floating decks surrounded by flowering kachnar trees.
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