Inside Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi’s villa in Goa

Sitting on the wide, white veranda gazing out at the paddy fields between the palms and lush mango trees, you’re overtaken by a sense of peace and homecoming. Inside, the villa’s muted aesthetic, soft tones, carefully chosen art and photographs, dappled light flooding in through the skylights and uncluttered rooms filled with tomes, all blend seamlessly together to make a melodious rhapsody.

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi’s retreat in North Goa is just that: A place that is at once elegant, charming and welcoming. He elucidates how his sanctuary transformed into a “narrative” masterpiece.

ELLE DECOR: You wear many hats: Author, photographer, curator and are now working with spaces. You have qualified this as “narrative architecture”. Can you elaborate?

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi: It’s a design practice that draws on my literary, design and art sensibilities. I came to making homes as a writer. I think in books, in characters, in the impressionism of language. So I’d make photo books or write short stories for clients, imagining their lives, losses. These literary or visual diaries became blueprints for their future homes. I guess I’m still writing novels – they simply happen to be physically embodied.

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