A timeless and minimalist home for a family of four in Nagpur

Ladlab plays with light and materiality to render a crisp, airy living environment.

Curated by: Rupali Sebastian
Photographs: The Endless Forms; courtesy Ladlab

The site

Located in an affluent neighbourhood, this is a 1,200-sq-ft, 3BHK apartment on the first floor of a road-facing society in Ramdaspeth, Nagpur.

The brief

The clients, a family of four, asked Ladlab for a crisp, modern-contemporary, low-maintenance home which also had to have timeless appeal.

The design response

“The apartment was a typical builder-flat; we had to work with tight spaces, large storage requirements, and still enough area to move around freely,” state Saniya Jejani and Sagar Lohar, principal architects, Ladlab. “In general, our design ideology revolves a lot more around functionality and timelessness rather than current market trends.” In this particular case, they built a narrative on an interplay between light and materiality to create a modern family home. “There are no fussy or messy details and junctions in the house — which  keeps everything extremely neat, clean and structured. Every niche and corner has been utilised to provide concealed storage to keep up with the client’s storage needs. We’ve also relied on a play of simple geometry like repetitive vertical lines to accentuate the height of the spaces and make them look taller or bigger,” says the duo, adding that designing a simple, functional and aesthetically appealing home is more challenging than designing an ornate house that follows market trends.

The colour story

The design studio used colour strategically to evoke emotions of a gentle whisper across the space. Subtle tonal shifts across white, cream, and grey with hints of unusual pastels create a calm, immersive environment. The living, dining, kitchen, passageway, and master bedroom have large format milky-white tiles with grey striations. The living room is the centrepiece of this home, around which the rest of the spaces convene. A cosy, contemplative place perfect for curling up on the couch and watching television together. Light grey textured walls complement a slender ribbed ceiling, cleverly concealing the general lighting in the apartment. The linearity continues onto the TV wall, emphasising the overall height of the space. “We paired a sand-coloured L-shaped sofa with a tan-coloured ottoman to break the monochrome palette,” elucidate Ladlab’s principals. “For the dining, we found an abstract work of art whose colours were in tune with the sensibility of the overall apartment.”

The pastel palette continues in the master bedroom, where a curved dual grey-toned bed rests against a pale grey-panelled wall. Overhead, a crisp white concave ceiling adds texture to the space. The teen’s bedroom was challenging because the storage requirements were disproportionate to the area. Two single beds with curved grey tufted headboards soften the space. “We adopted a playful scheme and used gender-neutral colours: Mangrove green, pearl grey, and crisp white. Floor-to-ceiling wardrobes and study niches wrap the bedroom on two sides, green for the daughter and grey for the son,” remarks Saniya.

The material palette

Materiality is eclectic: it embraces mirror, solid wood, natural stone, big format tiles and back-painted glass, softened by woollen rugs and suede upholstery.

The challenges

“The project was executed during the pandemic so everything was managed over video calls/WhatsApp as the project is located in Nagpur and studio is in Nashik,” reminisce the architects. “It’s a typical builder flat so room sizes were quite tight. The client needed some amount of long-term storage that can be put away without disturbing the overall layout of the room. So, wardrobes/tall storages had to be planned systematically around the bed so that the rooms would still look spacious yet  have enough circulation space.”

The highlights

Every piece of furniture is custom-designed to serve the scale and minimal aesthetic of the apartment. Also, the lighting in the living room has been cleverly concealed between thin ribs running along the ceiling. These add texture/depth to the otherwise flat expanse.

Favourite aspect of the project

“We feel the living-dining zone of the home is special,” smiles the duo. “Our clients love spending their evenings in the living, lounging on the couch and watching TV with their kids. The place feels like coming back to a warm hug after a long tiring day.”

Fact file

Project: House of Whispering Hues
Location: Nagpur
Area: 1,200 sq ft
Principal architects: Saniya Jejani and Sagar Lohar
Design team: Bhumika Jejani (site supervisor)