Moroccan Muse

In Ahmedabad, Mistry Architects fashion a home with a heady mix of Moroccan and Indian styles. 

Curated by: Ambica Sharma
Photographs: Umang Shah; courtesy Mistry Architects

The idea of having a Moroccan home is majorly achieved through the imposition of hand-plastered walls, arches, geometric designs and impressive stone works.

The site

Spread across 3,600 sq ft, Casa Aum stands on a corner plot in a posh residential area of Ahmedabad. 

The brief

There was a very clear mandate from the client. They wanted the home design to have a Moroccan style, with a noteworthy link to nature. There had to be unbarred spaces, but with the requisite privacy. 

The house experiences a magical dance of shadows through the wooden pergolas, slits on the frontal elevation, and huge fenestrations in all the rooms.

The design response

A home, which opened up the interiors to create a smooth relationship with the exteriors, keeping in mind the climate of Ahmedabad, was planned and executed by Mistry Architects. “Our first impression was to create a stunningly beautiful home with a basic form of straight walls and large openings with flat slabs, edges curved (creating the language of a Moorish design),” say Mistry Architects.  

The living and dining rooms open up to the external courtyard spaces, which, in turn, create a voluminous formal breakfast space directly accessible from the entry foyer.

The spatial flow

The layout of the defining elements of the home, the courts and other open spaces, combined with the orientation of the house, lets in large amounts of daylight, but reduces heat gain in the interiors. The build was planned from the exterior towards the interiors, keeping in mind the viewpoints from and towards the home. The volume of the home is spread across levels, and layers, making possible the landscaped terrace on the first floor. The ground floor has the common areas, and the first and second floors house the bedrooms. A key connection between the interiors and the exteriors is the landscaping, which also imparts to this home its oasis-like appearance.    

The staircase separates the formal living room from the dining area, and serves as the focal point of the home.

The design theme

An amalgamation of energetic colours, embellished furniture and lush foliage is central to the interiors of this home. The sunlight combined with the landscaped greenery sweeps over the wooden pergolas and wood beams on the front elevation to further decorate the home. The Moroccan influence can be seen not only in the hand-plastered walls, arches and stone-work in geometric shapes, but also in the stained-glass pendant lights in geometric shapes and decorative mirrors with carved wooden framework.

For an old-world charm, browns, beige, brick, and gold colours typical to traditional desert homes, have been used to convey the Moroccan-Indian style.

The material and colour palettes

Keeping to the desert/Moroccan theme and brief by the client, the home has been given an earthy colour palette. The colours and textures of sand have been combined with beige for most of the exteriors. Hand-plastering of the exteriors and geometric stone work further enhance the Moroccan vibe.

Fact file

Project: Casa Aum
Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Area: 3,600 sq ft
Principal architect: Sharukh Mistry
Design team: Deepa S Wani, Anagha and Anand R