Interior Designer Eshita Marwah and her architect spouse Rutvan Sheth, who together work at Surat-based V-Create Architects created a “home” for a young designer couples that spoke of their design sensibilities, and at the same time was down to earth and to-the-point, like their personalities. As the clients loved to travel and collect local art and thus, the goal was to create the perfect background for all the unknown, that was about to come. Moreover, the material palette chosen to kept in mind the clients’ attitudes & their "we are who we are" personalities – bare & straightforward without any cover-ups and yet colorful, playful and cheerful. Have a look at this vibrant, artistic and eclectic home with SURFACES REPORTER (SR):
Spatial Planning
This was a typical 4 BHK apartment on the 12th floor of a building complex. They envisioned the space as one continuous, interrelated, integrated entity, free-flowing between the living, dining and kitchen, keeping the balcony as-is and converting one of the master bathroom into to a walk-in wardrobe connecting the master bedroom to the dressing room via the master bathroom.
The kitchen was kept in the East, to welcome the morning sunlight. They had to introduce a breakfast counter which would be an intermediary between the Dining & Kitchen. It is often used for a quick bite & for one-on-one conversations. It has turned out to be the hotspot of the home, with two custom-made hot seats, named Small Bum & Big Bum.
Constraints
Besides the usual constraints of various structural elements located undesirably, the overall available height was of 2700 mm, which was a major issue, along with the budget. The height difference of the client couple was of approximately 10 inches and this created ergonomic challenges that had to be considered and designed for.
Material Palette
The light grey Italian stucco brings softness & light into the warmth of the exposed bricks, the painted doors, each has a story to tell about its keeper, the bare Birch plywood furniture, natural-polished is purely functional and adds the soft tone of wood, the 50 mm thick solid-wooden breakfast counter, placed on top of a stand made with empty bottles, depicting the sheer joy in the hard labour gone into emptying each of those bottles shouting out - “Salut”, Kotah stone flooring with a "skyline"- teakwood skirting all over the house to bind the entire space together.
All the furniture has been customized and made on site, including some customized brass lighting fixtures.
Innovative material applications/features
The innovativeness of this project is the use of only four main materials to transform the space with a minimum material wastage of less than 15%.
Designs were made taking into consideration the perfect sizes to avoid having any wastage.
For example, a waterfall was made using the waste chips of the Kotah stone, a regular brick was cut into half and fixed on an existing wall to save on the cost & to use the bricks available on site, reclaimed wooden furniture was used to furnish the guest room, dining, etc.
The story behind the painted doors
Inspired by the city of Funchal, in the Madeira region of Portugal, where the city council came up with a public art project called the Painted Doors Project to revitalize the old town (Zona Vehla) area, with an aim to transform it into a permanent art gallery- the idea was to create pieces of work that would invite people in to something deeper. Each door represents the story of the room behind it and tells something about its users like the master bedroom with Adam and Eve on it. The guest room is a vintage New Orleans poster with the guests arriving on horseback. The back of the main door was originally a vintage San Francisco poster, in which the artist added some elements of Philadelphia, as that’s where it all began. (where the client couple first met and fell in love.)
Both Eshita and Rutvan believed that “A home is made by its inhabitants and the design is transformative.” They further said, “The built environment plays a crucial role in our experiences, our memories, and our very identities.”
Eshita Marwah & Ar. Rutvan Sheth
Designing for clients who themselves are designers is a lot more challenging as compared to designing for anyone else. They undertook a very deep personal journey in the pursuit of finding the right solution or the most appropriate expression of what is desired and, in this case, the entire journey has brought us a whole new perspective. They have ended up with a result which depicts their personalities and that to them is truly satisfying.
Project Details:
Project Name: House of Painted Doors
Location: Surat, Gujarat.
Designers: Eshita Marwah & Ar. Rutvan Sheth