#DPExclusive: Stone, Silence, And Suspended Forms Define This Contemporary Pune Home

Cities change, but the places we come from have a way of staying with us. Even in the dense weave of Pune’s fabric, the imprint of an Ahmedabad-rooted family is palpable in their 1,500 sq ft apartment — a quiet rebellion against cookie-cutter flats and uninspired storage. For architect Sweety Muttha and Kaushal Suresh Tatiya of his eponymous studio, Kaushal TaTiya Architects, this home became an introspective exercise: an attempt to translate memory and materiality into a contemporary language.

“The family didn’t want anything ornamental,” recalls Sweety. “But they did want everything to mean something.” Crafted for a family of four, the directive was lucid: earthy, warm, and stone-heavy. Not in the overwhelming, museum-slab way, but as lived-in fragments of the city that raised them. Ergo, the designer duo borrowed generously from Ahmedabad’s architectural ethos — woodwork, lime plaster, hand-hewn textures — and gave it all a sculptural, expressive twist. Fittingly touted ‘Harmony Hues,’ the home coalesces disparate materials like pink stone, timber, and basalt into a layered yet cohesive narrative. A subtle counterpoint to the sterility that often shadows neutral palettes, the space relies on texture and thoughtful variation to evoke comfort without predictability. Lime-washed walls fabricate a sensorial shell, and travertine flooring brings with it the tactility of sediment and shadow.

The Art of the Unexpected

No form here is incidental, and nothing merely fills a function. Instead, objects become protagonists: like the Jenga-legged centre table in the living room, where solid wood meets a pink stone top that also reappears as an accent wall panel. Or the pivoting TV unit that looks more like a kinetic sculpture than a screen holder — clad in fluted glass, wood, and brushed brass. “We debated every shape and detail”, asserts Kaushal. “Sometimes we’d go back and forth on a curve or a joint for days, just to make sure it felt right.”

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With interlocking and unexpected cues, the dining area plays architectural Tetris — a study in controlled contrasts and sculptural silhouettes. The entire ensemble pivots around a central motif of asymmetry and softness: anchored at one end by a lush planter-leg hybrid, the custom dining table flows into a sinuous Korean stone top from Merino, its surface finessed to mimic a fabric frozen mid-drape. Beneath, a base clad in grid-textured wood grounds the setting. Nearby, the staggered shutters of the bespoke crockery unit riff off the room’s fluid logic without surrendering to it.

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Composed Volumes, Carved Intentions

Across the three bedrooms, grey emerges as a deliberate thread to modulate the earthy palette and introduce tonal depth. In the primary suite, a choreography of stone takes centre stage: pink and basalt slabs arranged in angular formations slice across the back wall, adding graphic tension to an otherwise serene space. The bed, fully upholstered, tempers the rugged tactility of the materials, while the wardrobes — with CNC-routed panels in a soft PU finish — read like architectural reliefs. A shear wall, subtly extruded to hide services, forms the canvas for an oak-finished TV ledge that fluidly extends into a study ledge.

The grandmother’s room offers a meditative counterpoint. “She asked for calm,” notes Sweety, “so we pared it down.” Here, the language turns simpler, almost monastic — with taut patterns, a stucco-textured wall, and a hand-cut lattice framework assembled piece by piece. Clean lines, hushed tones, and a tactile sensibility come together to honour both the inhabitant and the idea of pause.

In contrast, the son’s bedroom gets a whimsical jolt — defined not by colour overload, but by a calculated play of pattern and texture. Pink is notably absent, as per his explicit request. Instead, an abstract wallpaper forms the backdrop for a chequered headboard, as fluted wardrobe shutters reinforce the urban chic aesthetic. In sync, the bedding takes a subdued route, where charcoal greys unfold in quilted textures and understated geometry. The result is a space that balances youthful energy with a grown-up edge.

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Where Heritage Meets Experimentation

Throughout, a recurring gesture defines the home’s visual cadence: semi-suspended furniture that refuses to be grounded, echoing the family’s balancing act between rootedness and reinvention. Statement lamps in linen diffuse light with a soft opacity, their silhouettes shaped with an almost calligraphic intent.

Conceived over six months of iteration and slow refinement, Harmony Hues becomes less a home and more a portrait in three dimensions. A cultural memory is held in every grain and texture, but translated through an experimental lens that’s entirely personal.