From the desk of nature

Skylit gardens and open-air shower courts: Squelette Designs crafts a Gujarat home

06 Aug 2025

With constant cacophony surrounding us, we’re constantly looking for a home that can slow us down. Instill stillness. Centre us momentarily. Cocoon us in its architecture. Squelette Design crafts a 1,000 sq ft home in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to be that sanctuary — a weekend haven that is also a place for perennial peace. “The spatial narrative is designed to evoke daily rituals—from the quiet of early morning yoga to the late-afternoon play of light on textured stone. Architecture here becomes a frame for living with intention,” elucidate Co-Founders and Principal Architects, Saumil Patel and Prashant Trivedi, who worked for landscape design with Akshar Landscape Architects (ALA) and with Setu Infrastructure for structure design.

Striking and serene, the home goes beyond four walls to embrace a multitude of dreamy indoor-outdoor spaces, a striking swimming pool, a yoga deck cantilevering over a lake and even a meditation pavilion. You ask and the home delivers!

“The colour palette borrows from the surrounding forest and earth — muted greens, warm stone beiges, soft greys, and charcoal accents. These hues don't compete with nature — they quietly reflect it. Copper details, timber screens, and limewashed walls are expected to evolve over time" — Saumil and Prashant

The kitchen opens up into the pool deck for an easy set up for a pool party; Styling by Tanushree Dwivedi of Shelf, Photography by Ira Gosalia of PHX India

Skylit garden voids and brick jalis…

Revolving around the theme of tropical modernism, the home blends with its surroundings whilst also lifting it up. Walking through the lush circular ceremonial lawn and through the narrow stone walled- passageway, the experience begins way before you take a step indoors.

The double heighted living room is all you could want it to be. A recipe for a striking canvas, massive and airy, cosy yet striking and oh so well thought out. It dissolves into a party deck and other outdoor spaces through grand gateways that never let one feel cooped up.

Art is everywhere; on the walls, in the form of moonlike light fixtures and in the little elements placed throughout.
The homeowners wanted a slower world every detail in the home echoes this. The kitchen stuns with the long dining table and accompanying shelf, featuring artifacts. Endowed with courtyards, whether that be the kitchen, the bedrooms (and even the washrooms and dressing areas), every indoor space is paired with its own outdoor haven.

Light peeks in through a brick wall segment in the master bedroom, which is perhaps one of the most distinctive features we see here. The bedrooms with their ensuite bathrooms (emphasis on skylit garden voids and open-air shower courts) are tinted in warmth, comfort and art, with courtyards that face the lake and other outdoor spaces.

The makings of warm conversation and tranquil moments permeate the living lounge; Styling by Tanushree Dwivedi of Shelf, Photography by Ira Gosalia of PHX India

Colours of forest and earth

Saumil and Prashant state, “The colour palette borrows from the surrounding forest and earth — muted greens, warm stone beiges, soft greys, and charcoal accents. These hues don’t compete with nature — they quietly reflect it. Copper details, timber screens, and limewashed walls are expected to evolve over time.” Saumil and Prashant, worked with their team of Jinal Harsora, Jay Suthar and Jay Sompura to deliver the true feeling of home.

The material palette on the other hand? A continual discovery. It’s tactile and filled with intention, from the sandstone and native granite to lime finishes and unpolished concrete in places. Architecture and design are in such perfect sync that in the words of the architects it truly becomes, “More than a weekend residence — it becomes a living, breathing retreat where architecture listens, adapts, and restores.”