Slowlife, a boutique homestay in Kath-Kuni style of architecture, initially was a 7-year-old abandoned house in Jari, a small village in Himachal Pradesh, India. It sits amongst the beautiful apple orchards and various other plantations.

Project Name: Slow Life
Studio Name: Studio Nirvana
Location: Jari, Himachal Pradesh
Status: 2023-24
Area: 3400 sq. Ft.

Slow Life by Studio Nirvana-Sheet1
©Studio Nirvana

The property is leased by 3 Pints (Boutique Hoteliers) to convert this abandoned house into a holiday homestay.

Slow Life by Studio Nirvana-Sheet3
©Studio Nirvana

After we were approached to design the stay, we began with redesigning the existing layout and refurbished the interiors and exteriors to convert it into a 4-bedroom vacation rental. The idea was to be sustainable, using natural materials, which are both found, and blend with the environment and the native climate.

Slow Life by Studio Nirvana-Sheet5
©Studio Nirvana

The structure is made with locally found stones and wooden supports, the walls are finished in mud plaster. We reused most of the wood and stone that we collected from the abandoned building on the property. We trained and worked together with the local community on this project. The project faced a slight setback for two months due to the July/August 2023 floods in Himachal.

Slow Life by Studio Nirvana-Sheet6
©Studio Nirvana

The furniture was also designed with sustainability in mind, we made use of various wood waste that gets generated at our local crafter’s, workshop in Kochi, Kerala and moulded them into the different parts of the furniture that we needed. For instance, the supports of the round table in the corridor and the legs of the console table were made from this recycled wood waste.

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