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Architectural Digest •

This 10,000-square-foot holiday home in Karnataka's Malpe stands sentinel between sea and river

Anyone who knows architect Thomas Parambil can be forgiven for thinking he is a fitness fiend. “It’s true,” nods the founder and principal of Bengaluru-based Thomas Parambil Architects, whose gym membership, by his own admission, is motivated more by a proclivity for keeping company than keeping fit. Take his latest project, a home in Karnataka’s Malpe. “I wouldn’t have landed it if I hadn’t been on the elliptical that morning,” he grins, speaking of the morning he met his client Lavina Oberoi, an entrepreneur whose sporadic gymnastic pursuits were not too dissimilar to his own. “We got chatting and she started telling me about her beautiful property in the Karnataka hinterland, one on which she wanted to build her dream holiday home.” But the conversation never concluded. That is, until three years later when Oberoi dialled Parambil and finished what she had to say.
Architectural Digest •

This Tamil director’s home in Chennai is bold, brooding and brutalist

Hearing the name Design DNA might make you think the architects behind it are hardwired for design—but few would expect that their specialty is the unapologetically eccentric kind. “Guilty!” chuckles architect Karthik Arcot when asked about the accuracy of said description. It’s an unsurprising confession, given the studio’s latest project on Chennai’s East Coast Road—or more specifically, the short flight of stairs leading up to it—which Arcot took on with in-house architects Thejaswini Pandura...
Architectural Digest India •

A 70-year-old family home inspires the layout of the owners' new bungalow in Kerala

Most new homeowners are accustomed to compliments—the kind that gush over their impeccable design choices, chic décor, and a kitchen so picture-perfect it’s practically a shrine to Pinterest. Designer Jishnu Vijay, however, experienced a different kind of flattery. “Someone mistook it for a movie theatre,” he guffaws when asked what kind. To be fair, the home, situated on green farmland with towering trees and open skies, wasn’t like anything nearby—or anything remotely within driving distance....
Architectural Digest •

Inside a Colorado Log Cabin With a Rock-and-Roll Soul

Anyone who knows her will confirm that interior designer Blair Moore is as dauntless in life as she is in her career—going so far as to stop by a bar, without fail, each morning before work. “But not the kind of bar you’re thinking of,” jokes the founder and principal of Rhode Island– and New York City–based AD PRO Directory firm Moore House Design, who frequented an oxygen bar one too many times while working on a vacation cabin in Mountain Village, a holiday habitat near the town of Telluride,...
Architectural Digest •

This Japandi-style apartment in Pune has a soul the colour of sunshine

The thing about designing a home, more often than not, is that there’s a method to the madness—and if you’re lucky, the method is all that remains when the madness dies down. Anyone who knows architect Preeti Dhumal knows this to be true—not only because she’s a magnificent mad-hatter, but also because she’s the kind to disguise the madness in the method so you never even know it’s there. “We certainly never felt the madness,” jokes Manisha, the Pune-based IT professional who was at the receivin...
Architectural Digest •

Inside an ethereal Kozhikode home designed to delight the senses

Questions about cake aren’t exactly the sort of thing you lead with when attempting to impress a potential client looking to design their Kozhikode home—but anyone who knows architects Priya Rose and Rahul Mathew can confirm that confection and conversation, for better or worse, go hand in hand for the dauntless duo. “‘Do you like cake?’ That’s the first thing they asked us,” laughs their client, one half of a middle-aged Dubai-based couple who enlisted the duo—after being introduced by a mutual...
The Local Project •

FORTH Atlanta by Morris Adjmi Architects

Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward holds many distinctions: it is the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., a haven of scintillating street art, and now, the site of FORTH Atlanta, a new hotel and social club by Method Co. and New City Properties, designed by Morris Adjmi Architects.
Nestled in the green interlude between Historic Fourth Ward Park and Ponce City Market, this innovative hospitality concept exemplifies wellness, design and culture. FORTH Atlanta is where mid-century design meets 1970s pana...
Architectural Digest •

This serene and semi-open farmhouse in Hyderabad is a love letter to Bali

When it came to seeking direction, Kumar listened to his client’s instincts and his own, yes, but he also listened—and looked—to the past. “The design process kicked off by drawing inspiration from the existing structures on-site, with the goal of blending the new building seamlessly into its surroundings,” he says. The brief specified six bedrooms, each with its own semi-open space and connectivity to a common open area. What it didn’t specify was a layout—so Kumar devised his own. He modelled...
Architectural Digest •

Inside a 10,000-square foot Chennai bungalow inspired by a magical childhood home

It’s fascinating how certain childhood memories leave their imprint on adult life: the heady fragrance of frangipanis conjuring your grandmother’s garden; a chequered floor bringing to life the frenzy of hopscotch games; and long, sweeping balconies summoning winds just before a roaring rainstorm. Architect Varsha Menon has her own version of these memories—except in hers, the garden, floor, and balconies were all her own. “The house I grew up in, the one my grandfather built, meant so much to m...
The Local Project •

Deloitte Sydney by Hassell - Issue 16 Feature

For employers and employees alike, the silver lining of the pandemic was the opportunity to establish work ecosystems that allow team members to log in from anywhere. Enter Deloitte’s new Sydney office: situated inside Quay Quarter Tower, a sustainably built high-rise grazing the Sydney skyline, the company’s new workspace – designed by international design studio Hassell – echoes the reverberations of the lockdown, rewriting the rulebook for large, traditional workspaces.
Gone are the days of t...
Architectural Digest •

This apartment in Vijayawada is shaped by artists across India

Entering one’s golden years can bring a lot of joy—cherished time with grandkids, travels to bucket-list destinations, hobbies once put on hold—but for Nagasundararao and his wife, Padmaja, it also brought a lot of questions. “Mainly, where do we live next?” says Nagasundararao, a retired entrepreneur. The Vijayawada-based couple, parents to a daughter and son who had long flown the nest, knew they needed someplace smaller, quieter, and senior-friendly, a home that would comfortably meet their n...
Architectural Digest •

This farmhouse in Karnataka's Tulasigeri is a lesson in simple living

Most weekend mornings, when they’re not busy treating patients at their dispensary in Bagalkot, Karnataka, this doctor couple likes to disappear into the forest at their farmhouse in Karnataka's Tulasigeri. “If not physically, at least visually,” clarifies architect Shreyas Patil, who coolly takes credit for their weekly disappearing act. When Patil designed the farmhouse, about fifteen kilometres away from the couple’s primary residence in Bagalkot, he envisioned a viewing gallery on the side f...
Architectural Digest •

This luminous home in Kottayam, Kerala cleverly deceives the sun

Nobody really remembers their college classes, but few forget the moments in between—the attendance logged ‘by proxy’, the frantic cramming before exams, and the friendships forged at 2 a.m. over a shared serving of kettle-made Maggi. Architect Thomas Parambil, founder and principal of his eponymous Bengaluru-based architecture practice, has lived through each of these, but it’s the friendships that endured long after the exams ended and the noodles were finished that truly shaped his journey—or...
Architectural Digest •

This 1,200-square-foot Mumbai home was designed within a seven-day timeline

As entrepreneurs, Priyanka and Vishal Shah thrive on life in the fast lane—so much so that sometimes, whether they like it or not, the hustle follows them home. Architects Kasturi Wagh and Vineet Hingorani can attest to this. When the Shahs approached the founders and principals of the Mumbai-based design studio kaviar:collaborative to design their new Mumbai home, they came up with a realistic vision but a less-than-realistic timeline. “Seven days,” says Wagh, to whom the couple was introduced...
Architectural Digest •

This 50-year-old bungalow in Vadodara is reborn as a tribute to its owners' worldly adventures

There’s something special about travelling the world, but there’s something even more special about returning home. Just ask Abhit and Shilpi Banerjee. After fifteen years in Singapore, another three in Bangkok, and exploring over 25 countries, returning to India felt like a different kind of homecoming for the couple, now in their sixties. As Abhit explains, however, they had already moved mentally long before. “Six years prior, to be precise,” he says, referring to the moment they found their...
Architectural Digest •

Inside a calming Thrissur home where the outdoors inspire the indoors

Bringing the colours and textures of nature indoors was one thing, but introducing its sounds was quite another. Imagine the gushing of waterfalls, the chirping of birds, or the gentle pitter-patter of water mimicking distant rain. Muaz conjured all of this—and more—inside the home, merging (or demerging, depending on how you see it) the interior with the natural environment. Muaz emphasised playfulness, yes, but he also focused on practicality. He shaped the home into an "H," incorporating vert...
Elle Decor •

[Print/Cover Story] Drawing the Line(s): A Kolkata Home by Abin Chaudhuri

The thing about designing a house that lets the elements in and everything else out is knowing where to draw the line. Ace architect Abin Chaudhuri of Kolkata-based Abin Design Studio is no stranger to such predicaments, having made a career out of drawing lines — literally and figuratively. In 2022, when he took up the reins for a 20,500-square-foot home for a family of five in Kolkata’s plush New Alipur, the first thing he did was draw a line to distinguish indoors from outdoors. Or, as he puts a finer point on the subject, “Find a way to ensure ample natural light and ventilation, while ensuring privacy from prying eyes.” The solution, it seemed, was simple: if he couldn’t take the indoors out, at least he could bring the outdoors in. By keeping the home at one with the landscape, maybe he could camouflage the interior to make it seem invisible from the outside.
Elle Decor •

[Print] Grown from the Earth: A Home in Vadodara by LABwerk

Architect and interior designer Shonan Purie Trehan has a flair for stepping off the beaten path, as much at work as in the wilderness, and sometimes, if the stars align just so, in both together at once. “We first met while training for a fifty kilometre Oxfam walk in the wilderness,” shares the founder and principal of Mumbai-based full-service design practice LABwerk, the we in question being herself and Vadodara-based couple Shalini and Anand Raghavan. “Walking led to talking and we really got to know each other,” adds Shonan. The kinship endured long after the training was over, and yet beyond the course of the next year, so that when it came time for the Raghavans to entrust someone to build a home to their liking in their hometown in Gujarat, the compass pointed towards Shonan.
Elle Decor •

[Print] House of Two Spirals by Abhimanyu Dalal & Project810

One site. Two halves. Three important considerations. That was how Abhimanyu Dalal approached a farmhouse project in New Delhi. “We decided right away to divide the property down the middle to place the house at one end,” says the veteran architect and founder of his eponymous New Delhi-based practice Abhimanyu Dalal Architects. He collaborated with former EDIDA winner Vritima Wadhwa of Project 810 for the interior design of the strikingly contemporary home with its roofs silhouetted against the sky. “We imagined a house on one end and landscape on the other. Nothing in between,” he adds. The composition of the various architectural elements took into account not only the owners’ art collection but more importantly, the light, greenery and the surrounding vistas. Floor-to-ceiling windows, some double height, are a defining feature that extend the architecture outwards. Given that one of the owners, a renowned gallerist, had a penchant for art, and already had an enviable collection, the second consideration was designing a setting that created a dialogue with the spaces. And the third was ensuring that the place felt natural to the family, as if they’d known and loved it all along.
The Wall Street Journal •

Inside a $287,000 Kitchen Where Adults Can be Adults

Most parents with young children would agree that redesigning a home—and then maintaining it—isn’t for the faint of heart. But for one lionhearted Chicago couple, the proud new owners of a home in Southport Corridor, bought for $2.85 million in 2023, the reward seemed to outweigh the risk. “Even though we have two kids under 7, we wanted the house to look cool and feel grown-up,” says the wife, a 45-year-old stay-at-home mom.
Architectural Digest •

Tour a Designer’s 100-Year-Old LA Retreat

Interior designer Jessica Pell has a knack for spotting beauty in the unexpected and, better still, magically unlocking it. Her home in Eagle Rock is proof. “Having lived in a Schindler for many years, I am drawn to soulful spaces that connect thoughtfully to the site, light, and nature, and I developed a deep appreciation for places with history and a strong sense of presence,” says the founder and principal of Manola Studio. But Pell’s dream of owning a home in Los Angeles that checked all her...
Architectural Digest India •

[Print] The Plant Whisperers

Varna Shashidhar was always passionate about the natural environment, but it took an internship with leading Sri Lankan architect Chelvadurai Anjalendran to help her appreciate the richness of the built form in symbiosis with the landscape. Her experience led her to pursue a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard University, with a resolve to set up her own practice, focusing on creating contextual environments that celebrate the natural beauty and nuances of India and South Asia. “Cultural landscapes in India have the power to touch the chitta [human consciousness], which transcends the sensorial. That is a quality I aspire to bring into my work,” says Shashidhar. Since founding VSLA in 2013, she hasn’t been afraid to get her hands dirty—literally. Among her notable achievements are a didactic ecosystem for Neev Academy in 2015, a garden sanctuary with native edibles and medicinals for Byg Brewski, then India’s largest microbrewery, in 2018, and a one-acre urban remediation landscape with over 75 species of local and adapted vegetation for Bangalore International Centre in 2019. She is currently working on creating a healing landscape at Kathiwada, Madhya Pradesh. And yet, she’s nowhere near done.
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