Creative Design and Management Conceives a Palatial Family Home in Western India
Similar to Chinese feng shui, vastu shastra, the ancient Hindu system of architecture, prescribes design principles intended to integrate built structures with the cosmos. In contemporary India, a new generation is subscribing to the benefits of vastu—purported to affect everything from health to finances—and clients are increasingly requesting that architects follow its edicts.
Such was the case when a real-estate mogul asked Creative Design and Management to create a palatial family home in western India. The building is C-shaped with an impressive double-height glazed entrance that opens into an explosion of space. Firm principal Shailesh Parikh’s design—stringently vastu down to the orientation, measurements, colors, and materials—cleverly negotiates a marriage between the system’s age-old tenets and a modern, organic sensibility.
“Since our client was open to experimentation, the aesthetic is plush and upmarket, with no skimping or cutting of corners,” Parikh explains. Finishes are bespoke and detailed for visual complexity. Doors, for example, are crafted from solid wood and adorned with Corian handles. Dramatically striated stone flooring grounds other design elements, from wavy wall treatments to the moveable glass ns of the stair balustrade that repeat details from the timber window shutters. The garden, too, is considered with care, planted with native trees that thrive in Vadodara’s extreme heat. It encircles the house, allowing vistas of green from much of the interior and providing places of repose once the weather cools and breezes stir the air.
