A stencilled piece of street art depicting an older Indian woman brazenly riding a Harley spawned the design narrative for the Hyatt Centric MG Road Bangalore, the lifestyle hotel brand’s first foray into India. “We envisioned how her personality was influenced by the neighborhood and how that shaped her environment—the things she saw, collected, or found significant. It was important for us to maintain the idea of this metaphor, constantly juxtaposing the old and the new, the nostalgic with the playful,” says Laura Robin, senior designer at the New Delhi office of Santa Monica, California-based Studio HBA. As a nod to this image, the 143 guestrooms star graffiti artwork that melds tradition with adventure, like a classical dancer playing electric guitar.

Along with custom furniture and fabrics that reference the Indo-Saracenic era, globe-shaped light fixtures reminiscent of the British cantonment, patterned bathroom tiles, and handpainted bedside tables (a reimagining of India’s wildly decorative Horn Ok Please trucks), provide intrigue in guestrooms. “We fell in love with the way a personal narrative was spread through the country by a means of transport and the colorful and distinct graphics that are unequivocally Indian,” adds Robin.

Throughout the hotel, cool gray and blue tones are punctuated by neon yellow and magenta, symbolizing, says Robin, “the way color is used in the city, ever youthful and always unexpected.” In the lobby, which doubles as a modern-day tea khade for social chai breaks, a mural of green tiles behind the reception desk conjures Bangalore’s botanical roots, echoed in Bangaluru Brasserie restaurant with a soaring ceiling, hanging plants, and full-height sliding glass doors that welcome in the outdoors.