Art/Designer/Furniture Customizations/products : Kalakaari Haath, The Retyrement plan, LivinArt, Merge Karpets, Kook Concepts, KrsnaMehta, Mora Taara, IDC Archiconcrete Asain Paints.
As designers and planners, it is always a vital task to take up the responsibility of designing someone’s home and personal space. Whether it is a bungalow in the suburbs or an apartment in a high-rise in the city, the same amount of design sensitivity needs to be applied to come up with unique design solutions to the client’s needs. The residence in World Towers is one such project. The project is home to a three generation family and it demanded that amount of responsiveness and technique to design.
The client’s brief was to design a space that in spite of being in one of the most luxurious Armani designed World One project, still radiates the warmth and comfort that a home provides and happy to have some feel-good spaces. The design concept stemmed from the premise that you leave the ultra-hotel like luxury behind when you enter home. The concept absorbed the urban context of the city built upon many layers, the culture and the colours along with the proximity to the sea and the urban chaos therein. This dictated the colour and material palate for us in terms of balancing the elements of warmth and under toning the luxury while maintaining the functionality of the space. Another consideration was the prominent curve design of the building itself along with a continuous stretch of balcony all along thus offering some of the best city, sea and sealink views. The living room is planned as to create a comfortable yet clutter-free family space and at the same time, the curved facade that spans throughout the living room is highlighted using various design elements. The ceiling and subsequent lighting design radially frames the view of the outdoors. These lines flow from the ceiling to the walls in a way that subtly pulls ones attention to the window and what lies beyond that.
The orientation of the furniture in the living room was a bit of a challenge as the layout does not offer a lot of parallel lines to visually align the space. The custom-designed steel-grey and mustard highlighter sofas in the living room are oriented towards the TV and the centre table to provide scope for additional seating around it. The table is custom-designed and fabricated with colour highlights and space-grids to tuck in poufs merging with the table once in. The odd-shaped seating area is tied together with a custom-designed circular carpet with abstract radial patterns that vaguely reflect the radial pattern on the ceiling and picks highlighter colours from the furniture. The dining area sports a custom-designed veneered with metal inlay table that is not a perfect rectangle but tapers slightly towards one side and blends in with the curved wall perfectly. The metal legs of this table are painted in the accent colours of the space. The colour palette for the living room is generally warm shades of greys and concrete, rough textures from Asian paints with pops of colour and antique metal highlights .These colours, textures and materials, very subtly, imbibe the feel of the space and make it more welcoming and easy-going. Again, a delicate balance between using accent colours but at the same time not making the space feel too quirky is maintained. The metal wall art in the living room is custom made for the space to compliment the desired mood of the room. The hidden cabinet-temple is subtly reflected by the slight traditional floral-inspired modern layered graphic art printed on the wooden panels and console which was collaboratively designed with LivinArt also picking the similar accents.
The balcony that runs along the curve of the living room is converted into an outdoor bar area overlooking the picturesque views that the property offers. The Bar sports a concrete counter top and the front cladded with hand painted ceramic tiles mimicking the colours of the sea and sky making the space interesting both for an evening tea or night ambience. There’s also a unique custom-made wooden bench and a custom swing by Retyrement Plan to complete the relax zone and add to the colours.
The rooms are designed with the same balance between luxury and comfort. The materials selected are not flashy or over the top but at the same time exude a sense of elegance. The parent’s room has a neutral earthy colour palette and has wardrobes highlighted in leather balanced by the fluted leather headboard. The colour palette for the master bedroom and master bathroom is bolder with pastel rich grey-blues and greys with jute and white sheers creating a relaxed spa-like feel as one enters. Texture paints and concrete elements paired with geometric motifs done in antique metal and English green leather bed set the elegant yet unique theme of the room. The same motif is then continued in metal and veneer for the bed back wall. A lovely nook is created by the window side with a Retyrement plan blue-green lounge seat and a pebbled grey carpet. The boy’s room has a fresh colour palette of yellows ochre, teal, light grey and Birch ply and is planned and designed keeping in mind the need for storage and still having enough space .The head-wall and study storage is well detailed with light coloured grids highlighted by Birch-ply handles.
Art has been used in some unique ways in this project with the team collaborating with various artists to customise the art aligning and highlighting the design like the Temple art feature. The long passage that spans from the living room to the master bed room with doors leading to the other rooms is made to be a talking point. A detailed custom designed graphic along the entire length suggesting an irony of sorts on the concept of urban living and using techniques like satire, humour and off scaling was commissioned by collaborating with Kalaakari Haath. It displays caricatures of the kids to add humour and personality to the space. The metal artwork on the living room wall was designed and custom made with a local artist in Jodhpur and a customised Fabric and handmade paper Artworks have been used appropriately. The hand woven outdoor furniture is by Retyrement plan which follows the design mantra of handmade pop luxury.
All in all, the home is truly a warm and the right amount of indulgent space where one wants to contentedly soak into appreciating the beautiful views and sunsets that the high living offers and yet always keeping oneself grounded.
Photographs: Sebastian Zachariah