Markat

 REQUIREMENT BRIEF 

A builder duplex owned by a couple at the brink of settling down for latter half of a peaceful retirement life, requested for nothing but a serene sanctum with understated luxury, exquisite traditional artwork and comfort as key. Their abode was to be a permanent home for 3, while allowing a constant influx of their children and family as visitors and the large drawing room with adjoining pool deck to serve a house-full social gathering of upto 50 near and dear.

 OUTCOME 

The house is any artist’s delight. With tribal artworks sourced from the hinterland like Kutch, Jodhpur, Bastar, Shantiniketan and Patiala. The intentional plaintiff white walls are a background to many dying glorious arts. The color Markat (or Emerald green in Sanskrit, symbolising harmony, balance with nature and also the owner’s birthstone) makes a constant yet discreet presence around various elements of the interiors. You can catch the dark green Indian marble on the double height background wall of the Baithak Living room Living room, on the glazed jaali segregating spaces, green is the larger overtone to the natural limestone with variations in coral used in the bedroom flooring, the emerald tone is also the natural color of the low-e material board used to make all inbuilt cupboards and cabinets. A careful curation of antique furniture ensures reuse of the old otherwise discarded pieces, leading to negligible exploitation of natural resources which is very high in a conventional set up of this scale of furniture requirement. Since most common area flooring, a beige Italian Marble was already provided by the builder, it was only wise to keep it intact and utilize the budget on extravagant art like hand-painted kitchen cabinetry and ornate fans. The high ceilings, open windows allow the inhabitants, to acquire any private corner and be delighted to exceptional green views on both the east compound grounds and the west private pool deck. The Markat adds indescribable magic to the sunset and moonrise when viewed from the almost fort-like appeal of the master bedroom. The natural greens are judiciously allowed to flow carefully into the house on black steel hangers, keeping intact the glistening preciousness, exquisiteness and sparkle of the Markat especially at its peak in the vivid North Indian Monsoon.