Scintillating Style

Client-architect sensibilities dovetail in scintillating style in this Alibag weekend home designed by MuseLAB and owner Pavan Anand.

Curated by: Rupali Sebastian
Photographs: Ashish Sahi, courtesy MuseLAB

A view of the holiday home from the open-to-sky patio with its fire-pit. The emerald green volume of the staircase is clearly visible.

The project

This pure, crisp and lucid holiday home eschews the typical Balinese style, a go-to aesthetic for weekend homes in Alibag. The design narrative emerged from the collaborative efforts of MuseLAB and owner Pavan Anand, an architect by training and bijoutier by calling.

The site

Fairly flat in topography, the introverted site is abutted by fields and narrow village roads. A few large trees along the boundary act as guardians of the plot.

The orientation of the living room furniture is in response to the staircase. At one end lilac stone bar stands against a bespoke mosaic expanse rendered from bevelled, black and clear mirrors.

The brief

The idea was to redefine the very meaning of luxury. Every element inside the house and in the manicured outdoor areas had to be curated, contextualised and designed to amplify the user experience.

The dining table has been rendered from teal coloured Amazonite. The parametric canopy by Mutation Design Lab unfurls its beauty overhead.

The spatial articulation

The house, formalised as a linear G+1 glass box, accommodates a living room, a powder room, a kitchenette, two small bedrooms and a master bedroom on the ground floor. A glass and steel staircase leads you to the first floor master bedroom. A large pool sits at the edge of the living room. The dining room is articulated as a discrete pavilion standing between the main structure and a rock garden in the southern part of the plot. The north-west corner has an outdoor patio with a fireplace, perfect for evening conversations.

In the master bedroom on the ground floor, Art by Rachna Toshniwal and a bedside lamp from Lighttecture heighten the air of sophistication.

The material and colour palettes

The structure is painted in two shades of grey. Polished and flame-finished cudappah stone dominates the floor and walls in varying scales and patterns along with brass inlays. Luxurious stones clad the dry areas of the bathrooms closest to the exterior glazing. Solid colours — a blue sofa, a green staircase, a red bedroom corridor — heighten the spatial experience.

Fact file

Project: Oh Precious
Location: Dhokawade, Alibaug
Built-up area: 3,000 sq ft
Concept: Pavan Anand
Co-architect, interior architects and landscape design: Huzefa Rangwala, Jasem Pirani and Aishwarya Lakhani
Co-architect: White3
Collaborators: Mutation Lab, Nirvaiir Nath, Goodluck Glass, Living Spaces and Grey Canvas
Horticulturist: Rahul Harishchandra