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babylon
babylon
Hyderabad, India
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babylon
Hyderabad, India
Firm
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2024
SIZE
25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft
Babylon Kitchen & Bar
Landscape Design by Kiasma Studio
Set within the dense and fast-paced neighbourhood of Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, Babylon Kitchen & Bar occupies a compact urban plot where space is a luxury and greenery is often scarce. Surrounded by residential plots on the southern and eastern edges and approach roads along the north and west, the site also presents a challenging topography—sloping gently from the southwest to the northeast by nearly six feet, while neighbouring plots rise almost twenty feet higher behind retaining walls. Within these tight urban constraints, Kiasma Studio approached the project as an opportunity to carve out a lush, immersive landscape that could soften the intensity of its surroundings.
At the heart of the design lies the idea of creating a contemporary interpretation of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Rather than treating landscape as an accessory to architecture, the design wraps the building within a cascading green curtain, allowing vegetation to take visual precedence. Creepers climb along the structure and drape over the boundary walls, gradually blurring the distinction between built form and planted surface. Over time, this living layer continues to evolve, transforming the space into an enveloping garden environment within the city.
The boundary walls play a significant role in establishing this identity. Clad in broken stone and heavily layered with creepers, these surfaces create a rugged, textured backdrop reminiscent of ancient stone terraces overtaken by vegetation. This treatment contrasts deliberately with the clean and contemporary architectural language of the building, allowing the landscape to soften the otherwise modern expression of the space. The result is a setting where the rawness of materials and the quiet presence of foliage coexist in balance.
Spatial planning for the project is organised into four distinct zones—services, indoor dining, semi-open seating, and the brewery courtyard—each shaped by the presence of landscape. The service block is strategically positioned along the southern edge of the site, acting as a buffer against neighbouring residences while freeing the remaining areas to open outward toward greenery. The indoor dining space is located in the eastern quadrant, providing uninterrupted views toward the landscaped zones.
The semi-open seating areas are carefully designed around two existing mature trees located in the southeastern portion of the site. Rather than removing these trees, they became the central anchors of the design. To maximise their shade and presence, the main brewery block was subtly tilted within the site, allowing pockets of open courtyard space to emerge around it. These shaded outdoor areas form some of the most intimate dining spots within the project, where guests sit beneath dense canopies of foliage while remaining visually connected to the central brewery.
Landscape continuity is further reinforced through the flooring strategy, which seamlessly connects interior and exterior spaces. A monolithic surface of washed concrete embedded with black and red stone chips flows across the site, dissolving the threshold between inside and outside. This uninterrupted ground plane encourages a free-flowing movement through the space, while organic curves within the paving patterns soften the otherwise geometric spatial layout.
Materiality throughout the project embraces a restrained and earthy palette that allows vegetation to remain the visual protagonist. Dholpur sandstone lines the compound walls, lending both durability and warmth to the site’s edges, while finished concrete surfaces celebrate the natural character of the material. Together, these textures create a calm and robust base against which the softness of planting and climbing vines can unfold.
The final landscape emerges as a careful dialogue between brutalist material expression and the quiet persistence of nature. Raw concrete surfaces, broken stone walls, creeping vegetation, and mature trees come together to transform a tight urban plot into a layered garden experience. At Babylon Kitchen & Bar, Kiasma Studio demonstrates how landscape can reclaim space within the city—allowing nature to drape itself across architecture and reintroduce a sense of calm within Hyderabad’s vibrant urban fabric.
Landscape Design: Kiasma Studio
Landscape Architect: Ar. Sowmya Lakhamraju
Architects: 23DDS
Photography: Vivek Eadra
Landscape Design by Kiasma Studio
Set within the dense and fast-paced neighbourhood of Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, Babylon Kitchen & Bar occupies a compact urban plot where space is a luxury and greenery is often scarce. Surrounded by residential plots on the southern and eastern edges and approach roads along the north and west, the site also presents a challenging topography—sloping gently from the southwest to the northeast by nearly six feet, while neighbouring plots rise almost twenty feet higher behind retaining walls. Within these tight urban constraints, Kiasma Studio approached the project as an opportunity to carve out a lush, immersive landscape that could soften the intensity of its surroundings.
At the heart of the design lies the idea of creating a contemporary interpretation of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Rather than treating landscape as an accessory to architecture, the design wraps the building within a cascading green curtain, allowing vegetation to take visual precedence. Creepers climb along the structure and drape over the boundary walls, gradually blurring the distinction between built form and planted surface. Over time, this living layer continues to evolve, transforming the space into an enveloping garden environment within the city.
The boundary walls play a significant role in establishing this identity. Clad in broken stone and heavily layered with creepers, these surfaces create a rugged, textured backdrop reminiscent of ancient stone terraces overtaken by vegetation. This treatment contrasts deliberately with the clean and contemporary architectural language of the building, allowing the landscape to soften the otherwise modern expression of the space. The result is a setting where the rawness of materials and the quiet presence of foliage coexist in balance.
Spatial planning for the project is organised into four distinct zones—services, indoor dining, semi-open seating, and the brewery courtyard—each shaped by the presence of landscape. The service block is strategically positioned along the southern edge of the site, acting as a buffer against neighbouring residences while freeing the remaining areas to open outward toward greenery. The indoor dining space is located in the eastern quadrant, providing uninterrupted views toward the landscaped zones.
The semi-open seating areas are carefully designed around two existing mature trees located in the southeastern portion of the site. Rather than removing these trees, they became the central anchors of the design. To maximise their shade and presence, the main brewery block was subtly tilted within the site, allowing pockets of open courtyard space to emerge around it. These shaded outdoor areas form some of the most intimate dining spots within the project, where guests sit beneath dense canopies of foliage while remaining visually connected to the central brewery.
Landscape continuity is further reinforced through the flooring strategy, which seamlessly connects interior and exterior spaces. A monolithic surface of washed concrete embedded with black and red stone chips flows across the site, dissolving the threshold between inside and outside. This uninterrupted ground plane encourages a free-flowing movement through the space, while organic curves within the paving patterns soften the otherwise geometric spatial layout.
Materiality throughout the project embraces a restrained and earthy palette that allows vegetation to remain the visual protagonist. Dholpur sandstone lines the compound walls, lending both durability and warmth to the site’s edges, while finished concrete surfaces celebrate the natural character of the material. Together, these textures create a calm and robust base against which the softness of planting and climbing vines can unfold.
The final landscape emerges as a careful dialogue between brutalist material expression and the quiet persistence of nature. Raw concrete surfaces, broken stone walls, creeping vegetation, and mature trees come together to transform a tight urban plot into a layered garden experience. At Babylon Kitchen & Bar, Kiasma Studio demonstrates how landscape can reclaim space within the city—allowing nature to drape itself across architecture and reintroduce a sense of calm within Hyderabad’s vibrant urban fabric.
Landscape Design: Kiasma Studio
Landscape Architect: Ar. Sowmya Lakhamraju
Architects: 23DDS
Photography: Vivek Eadra
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