A House of Layers in Jalandhar

23DC Architects design a home where every floor changes mood

29 Mar 2026

Good homes, much like good people, do not rush to impress. The House of Layers, a private 5,000 sq ft residence in Jalandhar designed by Shiv Dada and Mohit Chawla of 23DC Architects is a prime example of it. The facade gives you timber, stone and a cool, curved confidence. Inside, the drawing room hands you drama in plaster and marble. The first floor softens everything. The rooftop finishes the sentence. And somewhere in between all of it, in the landing light and the bamboo outside a bedroom window and a chandelier that climbs two floors, the house becomes something you don’t want to leave.

“We wanted to design not just a house, but an experience, a journey through interconnected zones that respond to light, movement and mood,” they explain. The home spans across four levels with a formal drawing room, a dining room, a kitchen, a family lounge, five bedrooms, an office, a pooja room, a raised first-floor lawn and a cantilevered rooftop lounge with parking for four cars below. On paper, a well-appointed family home. In person, considerably more.

The entry landing: a circular crystal chandelier by Panvik Lighting, a sage microcement wall panel by Roschcrete and large sculptural ceramic vases by Premiano by Mansaram Mahajan. An olive leather lounge chair sits beside an abstract metal tree installation; Photography by Avesh Gaur; Styling by Shivani Raina

THE FACE IT SHOWS THE STREET

From the outside, the building is a study in controlled contrast. Vertical timber battens by Natural Veneers : close, warm and rhythmic ; sit against grey stone cladding by Nexion, separated by a dark steel trim that makes the two surfaces read almost as separate structures. Cantilevered slabs push outward in slow, confident curves, their undersides painted black, so the building appears to be simultaneously bearing weight and defying it. Through floor-to-ceiling windows by Technal India, the sheer curtains by D’Decor Diaries behind them add one more visual layer: the interior glimpsed, but not yet given. “We wanted to create a residence that felt grounded yet dynamic, where spaces weren’t just functional but emotive,” says Shiv

THE ROOM THAT SETS THE TONE

Inside, the drawing room eases you in smoothly. One full wall, clad in hand-cast plaster relief by Viero, every cartouche and moulded panel rendered in the same warm grey so the effect reads as texture first and then as ornament ,that establishes the house’s appetite for considered drama from the first glance. To its left, a floor-to-ceiling column in Nero Marquina marble brings in the dark and the vein. Against all of this, the furniture is deliberately calm: low cream modular sofas, a round glass coffee table, a carpet by Dhiri Rugs in muted bronze and stone. Artefacts by Premiano by Mansaram Mahajan :a ceramic horse on a side table, a sculptural vessel at the sofa’s edge, are placed with the precision of things that were always meant to be there.

The double-height dining room: a lacquered black dining table, caramel velvet chairs and a branching chandelier by Panvik Lighting overhead. The floor-to-ceiling geometric stone relief wall is by Roschcrete; flooring by Lovely Marbles and Sanitations; curtains by D'Decor Diaries; Photography by Avesh Gaur; Styling by Shivani Raina

A corridor landing: a canvas by Soul in My Tones above a polished marble floor by Lovely Marbles and Sanitations; the home's curved concrete staircase enters the frame at right. Through the open door, a bedroom with herringbone timber flooring. Photography by Avesh Gaur; Styling by Shivani Raina

THE DRAMA OF DOUBLE HEIGHT

The dining room is where the architects let the volume do the talking. The space is double-height, and 23DC makes every centimetre count. From above, a chandelier by Panvik Lighting – its elements spreading outward like the branches of a winter tree descends over a long lacquered black dining table flanked by caramel velvet chairs. On one wall, a floor-to-ceiling geometric stone relief by Roschcrete holds its own against the height of the room. The marble flooring by Lovely Marbles and Sanitations mirrors the table’s dark finish below, while sheers by D’Decor Diaries blur the city outside into something softer. The kitchen sits just adjacent, visible through pivoting black-framed glass doors: white cabinetry, open shelving with veneers by Natural Veneers, a brass horseshoe ceiling fixture by Panvik Lighting. Tiles by Nexion; sanitaryware by Kohler. Purposeful, and good-looking enough to be watched.

WHERE THE HOUSE EXHALES

Climb to the first floor and the register changes entirely. Here, the family lounge is the home’s most generous offering — a room where the architecture itself seems to take a breath. The walls curve at their corners in panels of upholstered linen; the ceiling follows their lead. The furniture responds: a large cream sectional sofa, travertine and lacquered coffee tables, a brass arc floor lamp by Panvik Lighting, curtains by D’Decor Diaries pooling slightly at the base of the glazing. On one wall, a full-height bas-relief of sculpted branches and leaves in microcement by Viero and Roschcrete — climbs from floor to ceiling with the unhurried confidence of something that has been there for decades. “Materiality was treated as an emotional language,” says Mohit. “Every texture — be it brushed metal, soft blinds or polished stone , was selected to evoke a sense of calm yet richness.”

The cantilevered rooftop lounge extends outward in a soft, sweeping curve, its overhang framing open sky and the Jalandhar skyline beyond. Lined with bamboo planters and anchored by low, woven seating, the space balances structural daring with a quiet, lived-in ease; Photography by Avesh Gaur; Styling by Shivani Raina

In the drawing room, a hand-cast plaster relief wall — cartouche motifs finished by Viero, forms the backdrop to cream modular sofas and an oval glass coffee table; a Nero Marquina marble column introduces contrast. Carpet by Dhiri Rugs; artefacts by Premiano by Mansaram Mahajan. Photography by Avesh Gaur; Styling by Shivani Raina

WHAT WAITS AT THE TOP

The master bedroom, which opens onto its own bamboo-screened terrace, continues this logic of composed quietude. A floor-to-ceiling upholstered headboard wall in blush linen makes the room feel like an enclosure against the rest of the world. A hand-tufted carpet by Dhiri Rugs extends the palette underfoot. Canvases by Soul in My Tones in ochre, raw umber and gold leaf, appear here and at the landings, placed with the ease of things collected rather than curated. The rooftop is the house’s final declaration: a cantilevered lounge with star lights set into the ceiling and an unobstructed view of the Jalandhar skyline. Structurally daring and quietly graceful ,which in the end, an accurate description of the whole.