A house becomes a home in the way its spaces come together — but it becomes a place to belong in the quiet unfolding of what lies in between. In this Pune apartment, there’s room for that in-between. In the spaces between muted walls, in corners that hold soft light, in its gentle transitions and tactile thresholds— there’s a calm that’s hard to name. The Japanese call it Ma — the space that gives shape to things. The silence between notes in a song. The stillness that lets a room breathe.
Project Name: The House of In-Betweens
Studio Name: Alkove-Design
Location: Pune
Project Area: 1480 sq. ft.
Principal Designers: Ar. Komal Mittal and Ar. Ninada Kashyap
Project photography: Pulkit Sehgal
Based in Singapore, the Gadre family wanted their 4BHK apartment of 1480 Sqft to be a restful retreat whenever they returned to India. A home with simplicity at its core — something quieter, slower, a step away from the pace of their everyday lives. “To curate a home that is also a get-away, we began looking for cues that could bring the aspect of tranquility,” says Ninada Kashyap, Principal Architect at Alkove-Design. “We chose to work with the idea of a pause — a kind of exhale. A stillness that holds space not just for living, but for slowing down. We decided to look for meaningful ways of curating the interstitial spaces through this lens.”
A neutral canvas of primal oak and ivory limewash offers space for moments to unfold gently — for the in-betweens to be felt, while the language of arches and lines punctuates these transitions to ground them. In the living area, a backdrop of silver-grey stucco, edged with slender wooden arcs, frames the room with a subtle rhythm. As diffused sun streams into the space, it touches rippled glass before illuminating the seating area— a wooden checkered partition recalls the lattice of the humble shoji screen. It quietly separates the living and dining spaces without severing them. Here, the grid is not a boundary, but a breathing threshold.
Just beyond the living area, the kitchen and dining unfold with natural ease. The dining space doesn’t vie for attention — it simply renders itself as a nook, whether for a quick bite or fleeting conversations. The transition between kitchen and dining holds a kind of warmth, where the in-betweens aren’t just spatial, but also auditory. A hum of exchange, a pause shared. The kitchen flows from here effortlessly, dressed in greys and whites — in a meditative zen.
Drifting into the private quarters, the bedrooms offer a tender connection to nature— a heady concoction of sights, sounds, and ethereal light. The guest bedrooms rest in fresh greens and earthy ochre, while the master bedroom is grounded in rust orange. The bedrooms blur the boundaries between inside and out, where birdcalls mingle with the city’s hum — all absorbed from a sun-soaked perch that feels vividly alive. “Careful detailing brought the in-betweens alive — through a play of light and shadow. Fluted transitions along the window seats caught the sun and danced with shadows, while recessed surfaces behind the bed added quiet depth — becoming natural resting places for art, as if they were always meant to be there. We wanted to craft a home where the in-betweens struck a chord — the kind that makes you pause, maybe even sigh,” reminisces Komal Mittal, Principal Architect at Alkove-Design.
The breeze beckons you into yet another room — one where the home finds equilibrium — a space that allows both work and repose. It’s here that the home’s quietude truly settles in — where you can wander in with a book, curl up with a cup of coffee, and rest beside a balcony laced with greens, without a care in the world. Through the day, shadows shift softly across the room — cast by fluted details and leafy silhouettes — tracing time in quiet, poetic intervals.
As Jun’ichirō Tanizaki wrote, “We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.” It is through such subtle gestures that the home begins to emote with its inhabitant. For a family seeking a peaceful getaway — a place to pause, to return to themselves — these gently articulated in-betweens offer more than refuge. They invite a slower, more sensory way of living — one that attunes the everyday to gentle rhythms and tactile beauty. The House of In-Betweens lingers, like the silence between two notes — quietly alive, quietly theirs.
