A Minimalist Home In Ludhiana, Punjab That Encourages Introspection
Emerging from the frondescence in the leafy southern suburban outskirts of Ludhiana in the northern state of Punjab, an all-white paralepidid appears to float mid-air. The pristine mass sits delicately atop a “settlement” of sorts enveloped in black kadappa stone and brushed zinc metal sheet. With an open-plan layout, profusion of natural light, and clean lines, the home dubbed RB 182 has all the trappings of modern, minimalist architecture.
Designed by the Ludhiana-based Minimalist Architecture & Design Studio with lead architect Samridh Aneja at the helm, the home for a family of four — young parents in their forties and two growing sons — is rich in poetry and purpose. The structure is divided into three monolithic blocks positioned on a distinct axis. Playing with expressive form and void to carve designated spaces within, the design seeks to appreciate only that which is important, or essential, in life. “We believe that simple forms work the best. The form, the materials, the voids and strategies are really simple and minimal to look at, however are very complex to achieve. We go through rigorous processes to achieve those clean spaces,” Aneja says.
The 1330-sq-mt house looks out onto a sprawling front yard with a formal dining and lounge, prayer room, bedroom, washroom, family lounge and kitchen, an outdoor bar and utility rooms including a laundry and garden storeroom on the ground floor. An office, study and library, gym, master lounge and bedroom, two more bedrooms, a pantry and audio/visual room all find a home on the first floor.
If the brutal greys generate a sense of starkness outside, it’s the softness of the colour white punctuated by a palette of blacks and greys that perpetuate the reductive sensibility inside. “The idea was to maintain the same character lines inside and outside the building, generating an evident aesthetic and sensorial consequence, yet establishing a dichotomy between the butch and brutal greys of the exterior and the tender and sophisticated whites of the interiors,” explains Aneja.
Strategically placed liquid glass screens and dreamy white drapes throughout the home bring in solid streams of light. The light, well reflected on the white Bianco Lasa flooring from Stonex India and A-Class Marble, establishes a sense of vastness. Charred wood finishings as well as an assortment of furniture sourced in Italy and lighting in shades of black and grey cut through every one of home’s immaculate spaces rather beautifully. Sarita Handa fabrics and decorative accessories by H&M Home and BoConcept add interesting touches to this modern home.
Aside from the ample use of glass that effortlessly merges the soothing indoors with the lush outdoors, a reflective indoor waterbody is well in line with the contemplative and immersive nature of this home. Serving to create directionality as it continues into the outdoors, it extends perpendicular to the central axis of the home.
The outdoor bar, envisioned as an outward looking sunlit glass box, also offers room for contemplation. Whether it’s the aluminium and stone counter top, the stone grooved flooring or the patterned wooden ceiling, this space holds much potential to rouse the senses.
Of note are the home’s two staircases, both in tune with RB 182’s minimalist approach to design. The first, a gravity-defying staircase leading to the suite and bedrooms on the upper level is delicately crafted with a set of suspended tensile cables. The second is an external staircase cast entirely out of aluminium that appears to float above the reflective waterbody.
The design of RB 182 draws from a powerful pool of materials and forms to create sensorial spaces and voids within, even as it reiterates a connection to nature. The idea, explains the team at Minimalist Architecture & Design Studio, was to establish a dialogue between humans and nature. Or, as Aneja puts it, “Even though we sit inside the conditioned environments, we can still hear the subtle murmurs whispered by the environment.”
