KhwaabgahThe House of Dreams

 REQUIREMENT BRIEF 

The young couple with adolescent children finally making the NCR metropolis a permanent residence had only the following to ask: an unusual eclectic abode, with a personality hint of each of the four individuals. The design was steered by the extraordinary personal aesthetic style of the clients. They wanted their house to be a stunning social hub and hangout for all their friends, a haven for their growing children, a humble display of their art and family collections, a comfortable inn for their many guests and visiting aging parents, allocated space for their pets (dogs and fish), a love-nest for themselves, all functions rolled into one. Besides this, they wanted to limit their budget and not be too extravagant in expenditure, (read: that doesn’t mean compromise on design lunacy!) and were on the lookout for unconventional methods to recycle waste along with adapting other sustainable measures.

 OUTCOME 

The unorthodox design understanding of the client, resulted in a freehold thought process of our design team to be on extravagant display in this house. The basic builder plan was altered to be able to allow larger hall spaces in the living room, larger toilets, efficient Master bedroom with study and an open Kitchen- dining. Elements like the floor and furniture were given immense importance, taking about 3months of in-situ construction and fine tuning them via modes of on-site sampling, like display of books, scattering of flooring chips (reminiscing the children’s favourite series, Big Bang Theory), the display kitchen, the juxtaposition of toilet wall tiles etc. Materials were handpicked with the client over various visits for sourcing, ensuring costing and wastage to be under control. This led to an infatuating material palette comprising of the following: recycled wall glazed tiles, recycled Indian black limestone, recycled mirror, recycled bottle glass, cement IPS, brass, handprinted Jaipuri Tiles, natural untreated hued limestone and Yellow Indian marble. The walls were left barren (except for the thick Indian yellow marble skirting framing the bottom) to be able to display exquisite handicraft and art works collected by the client. The resultant house is overwhelming as it captures its residents and visitors with the elaborate efforts possible even with limited budget yet out of the box innovation, recycling and sustainable approaches resulting in never before unconventional finishes and textural delight. This is indeed as the client accepts, much like the royal bed chamber of Emperor Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri, the Khwaabgah.