Udaipur is a lake city ringed by the Aravalis, and most rooms here are a negotiation with a view — of Pichola, of Fateh Sagar, of the hills at dusk. The briefs follow from it: homes with a prospect worth framing, haveli conversions where the old bones are the most valuable thing on site, and boutique hospitality where guests are paying for atmosphere more than square footage.
NYKS is based in Jaipur, about 400 km to the north-east, and travels to Udaipur regularly for site work. Design, drawings and most of the craft are prepared at the studio; the founders come to site at the stages where decisions have to be made standing in the room.
The studio’s built work is in Jaipur and Udaipur. Three projects speak most directly to what Udaipur asks for: hospitality in open Aravali landscape, the interiors of an old house turned hotel, and a private home whose rooms hold their own without a view.
Old Udaipur buildings rarely match their drawings, so the first trip is a measured survey: walls, levels, structure and damp, and the stonework, carved brackets and old floors worth keeping. We plan around those rather than through them — the patina is the part you cannot buy. The design is then developed in Jaipur, and the project is modelled and coordinated in 3D before it is built, so a site six to seven hours’ drive away is not where problems are discovered.
Building permission in Udaipur comes from the Udaipur Development Authority, which replaced the Urban Improvement Trust in October 2023, or from the municipal corporation, depending on where the property sits. Near the water the question is stricter. The Rajasthan High Court is hearing a case on the lakes’ protection and has ordered that the physical extent and character of the major lakes, Pichola and Fateh Sagar among them, be maintained in the meantime. For a lakeside property we establish exactly what the plot allows before any design commits to it.
For a haveli becoming a hotel, the Ministry of Tourism’s heritage-hotel classification covers buildings built before 1950. It asks that the original architecture is not interfered with, that extensions and renovation follow traditional styles and building techniques, and that new built-up area stays within half of the total. We treat those conditions as part of the brief, not an obstacle to it.
Udaipur’s climate is close to Jaipur’s, with a little more rain: May afternoons average about 40°C, January nights fall to around 7–8°C, and the monsoon runs from mid-June to late September. What is particular here is water. Afternoon sun reflected off a lake adds to the direct glare on west-facing glass, so lake rooms get deep reveals, shaded jharokhas and glazing chosen for heat as much as clarity.
Marble is close at hand and easy to overuse; Udaipur’s own green marble is quarried south of the city around Kesariyaji. We prefer it in inlay, thresholds and one considered surface rather than wall to wall. Lime plaster in the warm mineral tones of the hills sits better against the landscape than white paint, and courtyards and deep verandahs still do what they always did — cut the western sun, hold cool air overnight and give a house its rhythm.
Udaipur has its own school of painting. Mewar miniature painting is still practised in the city, and the same tradition once covered the walls of palaces and havelis, so when a conversion uncovers old wall painting it is recorded and conserved, with painters trained in the tradition, rather than plastered over. Pichwai, the painted cloth hangings of Nathdwara, north of the city, belong to the same region and suit a room that needs one strong wall.
What Udaipur does not have on the doorstep, the studio brings from Jaipur: araish lime polish, thikri mirror work, carved stone jaali, block-printed textiles and hand-forged brass, made in workshops we already know and driven down when they are ready. NYKS designs and delivers as one team and does not take styling-only work; more on how the studio works is on the about page.
If it was built before 1950, it can be considered under the Ministry of Tourism’s heritage-hotel classification, which expects the original architecture to be respected and new work to follow traditional styles and techniques. Building permission still comes from the local authority. We begin with a measured survey and a condition record, then plan rooms, bathrooms and services around the fabric worth keeping.
Udaipur is about 400 km from Jaipur — six to seven hours by road, or a little over seven by the daytime train. The founders come to site at each decisive stage: survey, setting out, services, stone and plaster, joinery and handover. Between visits, progress is checked against the drawings through photographs and measurements from site.
That depends on the plot’s exact position, and it is worth confirming before you commit to a design. Construction near Udaipur’s lakes is closely controlled, and the Rajasthan High Court has ordered that the major lakes’ physical extent and character be maintained while it hears a case on their protection. We check the plot’s status with the Udaipur Development Authority or the municipal corporation first.
Rarely. Marble is local and handsome, but too much of it makes a house cold in January and glaring in May. We use it where it earns its place — a threshold, an inlaid floor, a bath, a single table — and let lime plaster, timber and textiles carry the rest. Udaipur’s green marble is often more interesting than imported white.
By deciding early what the view is for. Not every room should chase it. We plan the sequence so the water arrives as a moment rather than a constant, shade west-facing glass against the reflected afternoon glare, and give rooms without a view their own reason to be — a courtyard, a painted wall, a window onto the hills.