advaita

Project Type: Residential
Project Name: Advaita
Location: Gurgaon
Year Built: 2023
Duration of the Project: 6 months
Project Size: 2,385 sq. ft.

There are homes that follow a plan, and then there are homes that follow a feeling. Advaita was never meant to be just a residence—it was always meant to be a reflection. Of a belief, of a philosophy, of the quiet acceptance that beauty often lies in what’s unfinished, asymmetrical, timeworn, and real.

Conceived as our own personal space, Advaita became a rare opportunity to turn inward—not just as designers, but as people who’ve lived amidst materials, stories, and memories. The process wasn’t linear. It was intuitive. Decisions were made not to impress, but to belong. To a larger narrative of craft, culture, and soul.

The name itself—Advaita—meaning non-duality, set the tone. It became the thread that wove everything together: tradition and modernity, discipline and spontaneity, simplicity and detail. The house is layered not in objects, but in meaning. A Gond painting by Venkat Raman Shyam doesn’t just hang on a wall—it breathes life into the room. A Chettinadu pillar reclaimed from a bygone era now stands with quiet strength at the entrance, grounding the present in the weight of the past.

We didn’t aim for symmetry; we aimed for balance. The zero-waste terrazzo floors, with their hand-drawn Kalamkari-inspired bands, were born out of that very instinct. Every corner holds something that tells a story—a piece of black clay pottery from the Khasi hills, a carved log echoing sacred iconography, a reclaimed Jaipur window that frames more than light.

This home is a study in contrast—of textures, eras, philosophies. A pooja room that doubles as a music lounge. A master bedroom where a Patachitra mural meets a carved four-poster bed. The lime-washed walls don’t strive for flawlessness—they glow in their irregularity, like memory itself.

Advaita is, in many ways, a quiet rebellion. Against excess. Against trend. Against the idea that a home must look a certain way to be complete. It is rooted in wabi sabi, but filtered through the lens of Indian craft traditions. It doesn’t shout, but it holds space. For stories, for stillness, for soul.

It is not just a project. It is our pause. Our grounding. Our truth.