Kohler Magazine

As a student of architecture at university in Kerala, Vinu Daniel had a penchant for going against the grain. “I never aspired to be an architect. I wanted to be a musician instead and I even plotted an escape in my third year [of architecture school],” says the founder of Kerala-based architecture practice, Wallmakers. He was equally disenchanted by the the pedagogy of the course. “It put architecture first and nature second, which was weird—aren’t we supposed to tread carefully?” he continues. A chance encounter with eminent British-Indian architect Laurie Baker in his fourth year of university served as his turning point, inspiring in him an epiphany and motivating him to develop his own architectural ethos.

Situated at an altitude of 8,825 feet, in the heart of the Himalayan Pir Panjal Range, Khyber Himalayan Resort & Spa in Gulmarg is India's first and only luxury ski resort. The 7-acre property, set in a pristine pine valley, was jointly designed by architects Anil Sharma and Anil Badan, the respective founders of New Delhi-based practices A Sharma Associates and Studio B Architects. Sharma helmed the architecture, while Badan was responsible for the interior design.

India's capital is a city with two spirits: one embodied by its glittering malls and spiffy metros, and another, secreted in its centuries-old forts and temples and bazaars. Steeped in history, but with a refreshingly modern edge, New Delhi's hues and mores reflect a truly 'glocal' avatar.

In the Indian state of Rajasthan, where imperial palaces, centuries-old forts and storybook landscapes belong in as equal a spirit as the cattle that reign the gullies, a 14th-century fort masquerades as a majestic modern-day resort. Once owned by a Rajasthani royal family, the Six Senses Barwara is composed of two palaces and two temples, and underscored by sumptuous details that hold a mirror, equally, to the citadel's kingly past and Six Senses's time-served sustainable luxury ethos.