Novotel Palembang is a modern hotel that draws its inspiration from the scale and boldness of Indonesia’s ancient stone architecture. It takes the form of a 100-metre-diameter ‘mandala’ surrounded by 98 giant stone pillars. The mandala is the service core of the hotel, containing a convention hall, meeting rooms and leisure and entertainment facilities. The hotel rooms are set around it, in the space between the pillars. The construction used local materials throughout, most notably andesite (a river stone) for the cladding of the giant pillars and the floors in the corridors, main lobby and bedrooms.