Write Up
Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, Members only club
‘Home’, named after the luxury reminiscent of one’s own drawing room, where they can entertain and enjoy themselves with their family and friends.
The holistic experience of PVR home instills an essence of “Home”. It presents its crux as a fine blend of genres that have been adapted from around the world, along with sprinkles of personalisation as the name suggests. Imbued with the impression of a snug habitat, the design is laid out to infuse a variety of experiences, ranging from a den resonating a reading corner, a tropical-themed blush bar, a pompous music lounge, and a colonial dining set-up. Moving further towards the upper strata, a stairway with a minimalist balustrade design traverses into a domain that may be crowned as the epitome of graceful opulence. The phyllotaxy of natural materials like bushes and wood has been emulated in soft furnishing patterns, creating a harmonious synthesis of textures and tranquil colours.
Project Name: Home
Location: Ambience Mall Vasant Kunj, New Delhi
Client: Renaud Palliere, CEO, International Development PVR
Typology: Commercial F&B
Completion Date: Feb 2019
Built Up Area: 4025 sq.ft.
Architectural Firm: DesignEx
Principal Architect & Interior Designer: Smriti Raheja Sawhney
Interior Design Team: Smriti Raheja Sawhney and Tanya Chutani
Home is named after the intent of providing distinguished patrons with an atmosphere of comfort and luxury reminiscent of their own drawing room where they can entertain and enjoy with their family and friends. Encompassing glorious artworks, the place empowers an extraordinary style statement highlighted through vital components like a set of Elkington candlesticks, vintage showpieces, and a sequence of planters sheathed against the mirror back, extending an eternal feel in the space.
The entrance leads to a lounge ‘Den’ which wraps in itself as an epitome of class. The library feels like an exemplar and roots a long-lasting impression in the visitor’s mind. The theme of the place exudes a contemporary vibe, but with some added elements of modernity like seating with a striped pattern and the centrally located atypical coffee table. The place intrigues the patron with the furniture embracing an assortment of colourful hues from all over the world. The uncommon design of the door imitates a bookshelf and opens up to a distinctive expanse that cannot be envisaged by the patron.
PVR aims to provide a unique experience of entertainment along with exquisite dining, adding a new affair to the city. The prime concept behind including a music lounge area was the client’s inclination towards the melodious realm. The client’s inclination towards the melodious realm led to the design of a music lounge in a double-height space with cove lighting. The performance stage holds a bold red curtain, as a classic symbol that the entire layout poses for. Likely to curate an interactive schema, limited sofa seating has been provided just below the stage, encouraging the audience to be an integral aspect of the live performance. The stage was born out of the demand of the client for the paramount experience of entertainment. The lounge and the performance stage were inspired by jazz clubs of Europe that plays a variety of genre from all over the world.
Moving further towards the dining area, the design scheme brings an offbeat theme that narrates the story of a faraway land. The walls are reminiscent of old British colonial homes with moulded panels and artworks bestowing an artistic feel to the space. The crucial challenge of the low-height ceilings was deciphered by designing low-height furniture that creates an illusion of height. The engineered wood flooring and painstakingly detailed ceiling add up to the disposition of the area. To further amplify the magnificence that is imparted by the music lounge, the adjacent bar was laid out, decked in ambient lighting and a requisite euphoric ambience. The adjacent bar that is laid out with ambient lighting and a requisite euphoric ambience further amplify the magnificence imparted by the music lounge. The bar compliments the variety and genre of music.
Stepping out of the dining, a vestibule covered with stained-glass wall and wooden panelling leads to the washroom area on its right. A bold colour palette of black and gold signify metropolitan masculinity and hence has been used to formulate the design of the Male washroom, whereas blush tones embellish the Female washroom, with an added oomph of glow for a feminine touch. The wallpaper by De Gournay of France perfectly sets the tropical tone and a fresh backdrop. An exclusive lift lobby to the left of the vestibule impersonates the entrance of a beautiful residence, that stands as a model of a London walk-up apartment. Black & white stone patterned flooring, tropical wallpaper, and green simplified casino chairs, from Ananbo, vocalize the style statement of the space. A stunning chandelier from Mud Studio in South Africa dangles from the illustrious ceiling. The mirror cladding lends a boundless look and adds a subtle yet exclusive persona to the entry. A carpeted staircase from the entry leads up to the terrace.
The terrace invites users to a lush, fresh, and vibrant ambience of exclusive Alfresco dining enhanced with a fancy chic character. Contrary to the enclosed spaces, the terrace holds arched windows and dashes of green with profound usage of wooden pergolas, contributing an aesthetic appeal to the existing environment.
The divergent spaces have been introduced with assorted lighting schemes. A blend of dim and focused lighting has been utilized in the dining and bar zones, with the latter being used only on vertical interfaces to accentuate the art or wall décor. The bar on the terrace, in contrast, hosts a shower of glistening jar lights that render a spectacular panorama, in congruence with the enveloping greens.
The landscape design observed as a part of the terrace floor aims to infuse connectivity between the users, the built environment and nature that is circumscribed around the structure. With vertical planters and potted assets along the line of the walkway, the design makes a conscious effort to unveil the sustainable aspect of the structure. The presence of Spitalfields orangery, terrazzo Firenze & Spitalfields Toynbee, enhances the dynamism that the space stands as a stalwart for.
The furniture pieces range from contemporary to colonial, depending on the defined experience that the space offers. While a few of the chairs and bar stools were imported from Soane London, all tables and sofas in the den and ‘Sapphire’ (Music Lounge) were crafted by the in-house production of DesignEx. While the walls pertain primarily to white tones, colour is infused into the scenario through the furnishings. Rounded up to a total of 110 in number, the seating varies in configuration from booth style to segregated high chair set-up, in variant shades, complying with the predominant palette of the space. For instance, the dining utilizes a splurge of mustard and vibrant blue furnishings while the bar comprises smart cherry stools in a tropical theme.
‘HOME’ is an amalgamation of class and magnificence worth savouring. Possessed with a character of worldliness and style, this place is designed for an elite gentry who values modishness and comfort to an extent. ‘HOME’, thus, not only offers a space to delve into an anomalous setting but also confers its users with an experience of a cacophony of essences, executed through this ostentatious design.
