A full view of the formal living room reveals the handcrafted teak-coffered ceiling by a+t associates at its most commanding, its sculpted oval grid spanning the full width overhead. The large L shaped grey sofa with oak base from D’Decor anchors the centre, seated on a custom graphic blue carpet from House of Knots. Two matching abstract paintings on ochre grounds flank the steel framed glass partition wall in perfect symmetry; Photography by Tejas Shah

Contemporary craft meets scale in Vadodara

a+t associates let volume and material modernity define a family residence

15 Apr 2026

A large scale defining a residence can be perplexing. With 9,000 sq ft, a home risks becoming more of a statement than a sanctuary. Yet this Vadodara home, designed by Archis Patel and Tanvi Rajpurohit of a+t associates , resists that impulse entirely, settling into something far more lived-in and personal. A sense of ease is carefully constructed. “Rather than filling the home with decorative elements, we allowed the architecture, materials and thoughtfully crafted details to define the character of each space,” explain Archis and Tanvi.

The result is a design language that favours restraint over rhetoric and craft over decoration at every turn. “The key was ensuring that the interiors felt warm and intimate despite the large volumes. Achieving this balance through proportions, textures and furniture placement was both challenging and rewarding,” the duo says.

“The key was ensuring that the interiors felt warm and intimate despite the large volumes”

Archis Patel and Tanvi Rajpurohit

Home of multitude

Across two floors, the home carries within it a formal living room, a family living room, a dining area with a show kitchen and a separate wet kitchen, five bedrooms, a home theatre and entertainment room, a home office, a study room, a double-height pooja room, a terrace gazebo and extensive garden spaces.

Archis and Tanvi were appointed for the complete interior design, working in close dialogue with the architecture to ensure the two never pulled apart. “The key was ensuring that the interiors felt warm and intimate despite the large volumes. Achieving this balance through proportions, textures and furniture placement was both challenging and rewarding” Archis Patel and Tanvi Rajpurohit avers.

Grain and Grit

The material palette is raw, earthy and deliberate. Lime textured plaster walls in soft greys and warm whites run through the interiors, accompanied by natural wood in warm brown tones and Italian stone flooring underfoot. “The palette was kept raw, earthy and understated,” Archis and Tanvi elaborate, “allowing textures and craftsmanship to stand out.”

The most arresting expression of this is the handcrafted teak-coffered ceiling in the formal living room, a grid of sculpted oval forms that draws the eye upward and lends the room a grandeur that is earned, not applied. Below it, a grey modular sofa with a natural oak base sits on a custom graphic carpet ,flanked by a pair of oak armchairs in houndstooth upholstery. Steel-framed glass partition doors open the room entirely to the garden, dissolving the boundary between inside and outside into a single, continuous landscape.

The Vertical Argument

The double-height family living room is where the home makes its most expressive statement. A 10-foot-tall relief artwork by Rutva Joshi commands the full height of the wall, while a bespoke cascading light installation descends through the void in a composition of handcrafted wood and globe elements.

“Suspended gracefully within the double-height volume, the installation becomes a sculptural centrepiece,” says Archis and Tanvi. Its organic form and rhythmic arrangement evoke a sense of movement,almost like a floating installation that bridges the upper and lower levels. ”Despite its scale, the furniture arrangement, a grey sectional sofa on a natural oak base, anchored by a custom tribal-pattern carpet, grounds the space with warmth and intimacy.

Art in Transit

The staircase is treated as a space in its own right. Open-tread oak steps on a black steel structure are flanked by a custom, abstract geometric metal screen in Corten tones, as much a work of art as a partition. Within the void hangs a sculptural installation in a metallic finish, featuring a central orb and cascading tendrils that catch and shift the light throughout the day.

“The form is inspired by organic fluidity,” Archis and Tanvi explain, “where the central metallic body unfolds into elongated tendrils, creating a sense of downward flow.” The first-floor corridor continues this journey, lined with individually cast concrete architectural maquette sculptures, each one mounted across the expanse of lime plaster, quietly remarkable.

Five Rooms, Five Minds

Each bedroom carries its own material conviction. The primary bedroom pairs an oak platform bed with a custom geometric metal screen jaali overlooking the balcony. A guest bedroom goes decidedly darker, with charcoal fluted stone panelling, a corten leather headboard and a custom abstract metal wall sculpture mounted above. The other bedroom frames the headboard in oak panelling with arched niches inset in grey geometric textile.

The children’s bedroom is given over entirely to play and imagination, with a hand painted bear mural, a terracotta pink arched chalkboard wall and a motor skills activity wall. The study features a backlit tile wall hand-painted with folk bird motifs, its warm amber glow a quiet pleasure to work beside.

The double height pooja room rendered in white lime plaster with hand painted gold border motifs, framed Pichwai miniatures and a large brass Bodhi leaf cutwork installation is the most devotional space in the house. In Archis and Tanvi’s hands, this Vadodara home becomes something deeper than beauty. It holds its scale with ease and its warmth with conviction.