Contemporary design that embellishes the vocabulary of architecture
The Mood House, Faridabad
My association with the studio has helped to define my design ideology and enhanced the creativity and craftsmanship through the multitude of versatile projects that it has executed.
Way back in 2000, I started my venture of making soft furniture. I remember distinctly that with the help of the architect, we had made scaled down models of sofa pieces and exhibited them in the Swiss embassy Fair – something that reminds me of the Vitra Design Museum’s iconic miniatures that are a collector’s item. Since that day my sofa venture, Shankh, has never seen a day off with Archohm!
From learning various techniques and quality checks from our regular visits to the Furniture Fair at Milan, we have evolved to design and customise to every space,
client, material and budget given to us.
I truly believe that this process of evolution has been as satisfying as seeing our products come to life.
The Katyal residence, also called the Mood House is one of my most memorable design experiences of working with Sourabh and Archohm. They say there is only one life and so one must live it fully – the Katyal family epitomised this philosophy and clearly expected its design home to reflect their zest for life.
But achieving the quality of spaciousness and enabling what can be termed as ‘ mad scales’ that are indulgent, in a somewhat compact acreage is where the design and architecture of this house is immensely successful.
The architectural flow of the house and the visual connect of various space is almost a symphony of senses; it has been beautifully choreographed. Every element from the entrance to the door, the ascend of the house to the
materiality introduces the seemingly larger than life volumes.
It is the unusual facade that has given the house and the owners a unique identity in the neighbourhood.
Each floor converses with one selected material, be it stone, wood or exposed brick. The spaces are punctuated by contemporary furniture pieces and lighting fixtures that embellish the vocabulary of its architecture.
For us, the victory of the project was to make contemporary yet warm furniture pieces that complemented its overwhelming architecture.
I look forward to our continued association with the architects in order to keep reinventing and innovating in design, materiality and techniques.
Factfile
Client: Rakesh Katyal
Design Team: Sourabh Gupta, Nupur Madhav, Suboor Khan,
Aarti Kulkarni, Preeti Saini
Consultants: Structural – ROARK Consulting, Electrical and Landscape –
Archohm Consults; Plumbing – Techno Engineering Consultants
Built- up area: 8741 sq ft
Year of completion: 2015