Architect Meetu Akali established Studio Momo in 2014 at Goa.
Curated by: Tanaya Pednekar
Photographs: Courtesy Studio Momo
Akali embarked on an independent professional journey to explore herself and her sense of design. A believer of wabi-sabi, Studio Momo celebrates beauty in imperfection and delivers simple, elegant luxury homes designed using sustainability as the core principle. All projects incorporate locally available materials and highly bespoke elements customised to the very minute details.
QUICK FIVE
Your advice to younger architects or peers who are contemplating going independent…
Take a leap of faith! Don’t overthink. Don’t look at contemporaries’ work. Don’t get influenced by magazines and social media. Just focus and develop your own style, sensibility and philosophy…
Your dream project
My own house! It’s being built abutting beautiful backwaters in north Goa. The idea is to build using sustainable materials and make the house off the grid.
Favourite holiday destination…
Mallorca, Spain.
If your house was on fire what was the first thing you would grab?
My husband and my dogs.
Title of your autobiography…
The Girl Who Ate Olives!
FAVOURITE PROJECT PICKS
Villa Verde, an excellent example of the Wabi-Sabi philosophy the design firm follows, is a sustainable, contextual and modern take on the Indo-Portuguese courtyard house that dovetails local load-bearing stone techniques and contemporary details.
Thalassa Beach House, a small claustrophobic house located on Anjuna beach in Goa, was converted to a space that was open, breathable and flexible.
The 150-year-old Villa Fellicidad located in Canca Verta, north Goa, was strategically restored by allowing plenty of natural light and ventilation through multiple openings made throughout the house — largely facilitated by a Spanish-style courtyard with its striking azule blue and ivory patterned cement tiles.
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