Rubel Dhuna of Mumbai-based firm Rubel Dhuna Architects designed this luxury apartment in Pune for the Khemlanis. A heady cocktail (in a pleasant way) of design styles, this house showcases traditional, modern, and contemporary design with some never-seen-before creations of art such as the LIAH pillars, the custom made ghungroo chandeliers, or magnolia-petal inspired pendant light.
About the project:
Who lives here: Hema and Tarun Khemlani along with their two boys, Arjun and Veer.
Location: Waterfront Apartments by Panchshil realtors, located in Kalyani Nagar, Pune
Year built: 2018
Size: sq feet : 2000 sqft + 200sqft floor plate has an open-air deck extension
Type: 4 bedroom apartment
Designed by: Mumbai based firm Rubel Dhuna architects.
Principal architect: Ar.Rubel S Dhuna
Photograph courtesy for the images: HarbirzInc
Budget: above 1 cr
When the Khemlanis moved from Mumbai to Pune, they found their dream home in the luxurious property of Waterfront Apartments. The design connoisseurs trusted Rubel with the task of giving shape to their dream.
Rubel says, “
They wanted the house to have a unique experience and to be a narrative of their life. A place where they could surround themselves with memories/things they had collected over time and one where they could make found memories with friends and family. Subtle elegance and sophistication were what they preferred.
There were no rules laid out. I was given complete creative freedom and that is a blessing for a designer.
Floor Plan & Layout
The 4-bedroom apartment in Kalyani Nagar, Pune has an open air deck extension. The house did come with its set of challenges.
It was a typical four bedroom apartment with attached bathrooms. The spacious but disjointed spaces with a/c ducts running through the living room limited air flow, movement and lowered the ceiling height.
The layout was redesigned to maximize light and seamless flow from one room to the other.
Rubel says,
The house has an earthy tone . We’ve used a blend of traditional and contemporary design elements that are subtle yet leave a lasting impression. Broadly the palate consists of natural materials. We’ve used textured stones, graphic cement tiles, wooden floors with hints of brass.
RDa was involved from pin to piano on this project, every single piece of furniture/ light is custom designed by the RDa studio.
Traditional Art & Mirror in Foyer / Lobby
The entrance opens up into the lobby and the guest bedroom.
The classic floral patterned cement floor tiles from Bharat Flooring are complemented by the subdued beige walls. The tiles continue on to the guest bedroom.
The foyer in a classic Indian style design has on one wall is a ceiling to floor mirror that gives the illusion of a larger space. On the opposite wall is a vintage bench and a gallery wall of traditional Indianartwork including lithographs, Tanjore painting, and carved wooden artifacts.
The devil is in the details. Here, it is the custom designed light made of brass ghungroos called the Dalah chandelier. The stunner is a reinforcement of the traditional Indian theme of the foyer.
Dalah, meaning Petal in Kannada, is a customized chandelier deriving its name from the petals of a small bud. The light consists of several brass Ghungroos of varying sizes (used in traditional dance forms in India). The ghungroos are shaped like a flower bud that is about bloom.
Light emits from the inside the petals in turn casting shadows on the walls. One enters the house to a dramatic experience created by the refractions of light and the ringing sound of the ghungroos.
Guest Bedroom
The guest bedroom gets its access from the lobby. The floral patterned Bharat flooring tiles continues from the lobby into this room as well. The wall between the lobby and this room was replace by a clever inbuilt partition for storage.
Living Room
The living room is again very earthy. There is no dramatic transformation as one moves from the foyer to the living in terms of texture or color scheme.
The limestone flooring is again very organic with an undulating smooth texture and sheen to it. Two heavy corten steel coffee tables sit tout on the handwoven hemp dhurrie from Jaipur Rugs.
Classic Scandinavian chairs sit on one side of the deep and clean line gray couch, while an inbuilt wooden bench along the window makes room for more seating. There is an unspoken, effortless natural serenity to this room that’s hard to explain. It has that beautiful lived in look.
A blend of raw and smooth surfaces that give it a feel of country style living.
8 LIAH Pillars are the focal point of the house and are a great conversation starter. Inspired by traditional Tibetan Prayer wheel, these devices have been known for bringing spiritual harmony and positive well being.
The phrase “Om Mani Padme Hum” from the scriptures has been engraved on these pillars using an etching technique. The brass pillars rotate on pivots and act as a screen between the living room and the bar area
Family Room + Powder Room
The brilliance of this apartment’s design is in the way spaces open up and contract to make more room and camouflage for privacy. The family room cum guest room is separated by sliding folding shutters.
When the screens folds away the living space grows into one huge space stretching from the lobby to the family room on one side, and from living to the dining balcony on the other.
A deep comfortable tufted tan couch sits across the study table overlooking a lush garden. The Khemlanis are avid travellers and collectors of artefacts from across the globe. This library is a sweet reminiscence of all their exploits from around the world. Each little nook of the library has a story to tell.
A 100-year old painting belonging to Tarun’s grandparents’ hangs on the wall opposite the library. Behind the library wall is an all black powder bathroom with accents of brass.
Dining + Bar
The dining table is of irregular dimensions; it is paired with walnut wood Scandinavian chairs and a custom designed Brass Huva Light.
The Huva chandelier is inspired by the petals of the magnolia flower. The chandelier is made by assembling hand beaten brass plates. These petals are in 3 sizes and are arranged in an array of varying lengths with larger ones on top and smaller ones towards the bottom.
The petals are then interspersed with light bulbs to give a uniform spread of light. The deep mature gold of the light emanating from the petals makes it perfect for a evening dining setup. Even when not used as a light the chandelier acts as a sculptural element in the space.
The deep mature gold of the light emanating from the petals makes it perfect for a evening dining setup.
The bar table unit is a stand alone piece of furniture custom made for the project.It has a irregular angled fascia with inbuilt lights and a teak wood top.
The shrine windows were sourced by RDa,they are from the 11th -13th century from southern Indian regions of Karnataka, Hampi and Tamilnadu. Tribe culture handmade these windows and were used in their homes with tiny clad gods. This culture ended in the 19th century.
One of the shrine windows is exclusive and has elaborate carving details and a Nandi in it.
French style accordian metal and glass windows near the dining area open up to a pebbled balcony with a beautiful sight of bougainvilleas and dense rain tress beyond.
Master Bedroom
The master bedroom has a large fluted headboard extending on both sides of the upholstered grey bed. The engineered dark Ember wooden flooring is from Xylos.
Glossed PU shutter wardrobes with inbuilt wooden handles line the entire length of the room across the bed. The walk-in wardrobe acts as a partition wall and has mirrors on 3 sides.
Kids Bedroom
In contrast to the rest of the house, the kids bedroom has a brighter palate with blue Lagoon and white chevron pattern cement tiles from Bharat flooring paired with Bamboo Vanilla wooden floor from Xylos.
The kids wanted to share a room. The bedroom has a floor bed and bunk bed, for sleepovers with cousins and friends. A winding stairway leads to the upper level and is flanked by caricatures of the family that were made by street artists from various cities in the world.
The kids room and bathroom was designed in a playful manner. They wanted a bathtub but given the tight space a conventional bathtub could not be fit. So they created an inbuilt one instead wrapped in blue and white mosaic.
The mosaic was taken from floor to ceiling to give it a seamless look. The exposed brick walls adds relief/ contrast. The form of the mirror and window softens the space.
Sources:
Civil contractor– S K Décor
Carpentry – Umesh Sahani
Electrical contractor-Manvith Electricals
Metal Work-Prakash Fabricators
Painting –Om Painting works.
Lights: Hybec
Paints: Asian paints
Furnishings: Ralph Lauren , Cottons and Satins, Bharat furnishing, Yemajee ( pune ),Good earth
Flooring tiles: Bharat Flooring and World of stone
Rugs: Humming haus
Furniture in living/family room: custom made by RDa, Lohasmith, House of things
Materials
Flooring: Foyer and guest room- Cement tiles from Bharat Flooring
Living , dining and kitchen – River washed French Vanilla from World of Stone
Kids Bedroom – Cement tiles from Bharat Flooring and Engineered wood from Xylos
Kids Bathroom– wall and floor is blue and white Mosaic
Master Bedroom – Engineered wood from Xylos
Master bathroom –River washed Rain forest brown stone from World of Stone
Lighting fixtures: Light fixture – Dalah chandelier and Huva Chandelier designed and development by Studio RDa ( custom sizes available on request).Architectural Fixtures from Hybec
Doors – Panelled venner Doors were custom made at site
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