Residence for Mr. and Mrs. Segal in Raheja Acropolis, Mumbai-“A house where the straight lines are drenched in the rains of ornamentation inherent to the Indian soil.”

“The first rains after the hottest summer day.”

“We want a modern looking house accommodating our traditional stuff with a royal touch to it,” says Mr. Sandeep Segal. Their requirements were of a foyer, a mandir, a guest sleeping space, a living, a separate dining, a children room, a room for the grandfather, a master bedroom and services.“We don't have a balcony but we wish we could have a feeling of being outdoor” says Mrs. Pooja Segal.

“The requirements were many and our only clue was to create visually light corners and change the visual dimensions of the space exploiting the qualities of colours and textures. Straight lined forms were made and lighter back ground shades to all our rooms. We tried to create a single focus wall for each space, so as to minimize the visual busyness and make it easily vocal to the eyes” says architect Sudiksha.

For the living, the colour and textures are used to achieve the concept of creating a raw and rustic space giving an outdoor feel. Exploiting the dolpuri art from Asian paints range of textures, they created an off-white wall of natural-looking bricks and highlighted it with a contrast of red artwork with a gold tint in it. All the walls were off white and the furniture was done in the same shade to merge in the walls. The materials colours are borrowed from nature like a wooden deck for dining, the grey rock texture on the wall and the raw silk fabrics in the foyer with the rust orange colour of the original brick on it.

The bedroom is done in the neutral shades ranging from white to black with fabric highlights to create different moods. The room was done in such shades that it could be enveloped in any colour fabrics. Sometimes it could have red cushions and bed covers with red drapes to create a romantic mood and at times it could be done in purple or yellow or green for other moods. The black glass on the cupboard reflects the outside of the window. The space almost becomes a transition zone from the inside to the outside. Sometimes the space seems bigger, creating family mood and at other times, it would be a cozy corner to read.

The kitchen is a play of colour to change the physical dimensions of the space. It is a very long and narrow space, so the wooden cabinets, as well as the dado tile, were done in the same lighter shade of grey and light reflecting from those surfaces made the space looked bigger. A patch was done in red back painted glass to create some visual movement in a monotonous grey and the reflection adds to it.

The entire house has a highlight of gold in various elements to add the royal factor in a suttle manner. It was like it is seen in various styles of architecture where the stone columns has capitals painted in gold to add royal feel and highlight the elements that were inherent to its soil to depict a particular era or style of architecture which in turn identified the land.

The ornamentation of gold accessories was done to instil the house to the Indian soil. The mofits were designed for the handles, idols, curtains and fabrics, grills and mirror frames which contradicted the straight lines and yet seemed to be in place. Sometimes it would be, romantic and poetic to see the fine lines in dialogue with the motifs and the antique idols.

Abstracting the concept of a literal goddess statue on the entrance door, it was plain white lamination with a lotus motif and the vina as the door handle. The mandir is aligned to the entrance in a way that though the goddess statue is not on the door, yet, the visual connection is made and it is read with the lotus and the vina.

For the Segal family, the ornamentation came as a surprise and they enjoyed it completely. That is why they call the journey of there, “house making” as a journey to enjoying the first rains.