Samarkand · 2026
A caravanserai that takes guests again
Turning a caravanserai into a forty-room hotel without losing the courtyard that made it one.
The challenge
Forty rooms needed water, power and quiet, inside walls that could take neither new openings nor ducts through the old brick.
Our approach
- Kept the courtyard empty and ran every service under a raised floor around its edge.
- Fitted each room as a timber box inside the old cell, so nothing new touches the historic walls.
- Used the deep walls for cooling: rooms stay cool in summer with a fraction of the usual air conditioning.
The outcome
The courtyard is open to the street again, and the rooms are booked through the summer.