Resort Mehfil Meadows.

A hill-station resort in the Satpura ranges. Signature red-roofed cottages are set across undulating terrain so each one takes a view of the valley rather than of its neighbour.

The difficult topography produced the plan: a terraced layout that reads well and, more importantly, drains and holds its soil.

Interconnected pathways lead to private plunge pools and shaded cabanas within a wellness-led landscape masterplan.

Building on a slope is a drainage problem before it is an architectural one. Water has to be taken off each terrace and away from the cottages at every level, and the soil holding them has to be held in place, or the first heavy monsoon takes the landscape with it.

Setting the cottages so each takes the valley rather than its neighbour also decides the servicing: every run of power, water and drainage has to reach a scattered plan across changing levels. Mehfil Hospitality had already built with us at Amravati.