Mr. Ashwani Mehta's Residence

Project Specifications

Project overview

Mr. Ashwani Mehta’s residence in Defense Colony, Delhi, is a 9,050 square foot family home conceived as a contemporary interpretation of European classical interiors. The clients sought a home that would feel genuinely grand — with the symmetry, materiality, and detailing of a well-considered European townhouse — yet remain livable, warm, and expressive of their own sensibility rather than a period reproduction. Entertainment, family gathering, and private retreat all needed to coexist without compromise.

The challenge

Defense Colony presented an established residential context with specific site constraints. The challenge was to create a residence that read as distinctly luxurious within a mid-city plot — achieving grandeur through architecture, proportion, and material quality rather than raw scale. The clients wanted classical references — arches, mouldings, marble, cornices — but without the result feeling like pastiche. The home needed to feel authentically contemporary while drawing on a refined European visual language, and the transition between formal public rooms and intimate private spaces required deliberate choreography.

Design approach

The design is organised around a hierarchy of formal and informal living. The entrance foyer introduces the classical vocabulary: arched openings with deep plaster reveals, corniced ceilings, and white limestone flooring in a geometric pattern. The drawing room is centred on a symmetrical composition — a marble surround flanked by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in American white oak, linen drapes framing views, and sculptural lighting designed specifically for the space. The dining area resolves around a twelve-seat table beneath a bespoke chandelier, with wainscoted walls and an adjacent bar cabinet in unlacquered brass and smoked glass. Bedroom suites are conceived as calm retreats — a deliberate shift from the formality of the public rooms. Natural linen, soft neutrals, and carefully chosen furniture pieces create warmth that contrasts with the more architectural public spaces. Throughout, materials are applied with restraint: white limestone, American white oak, natural linen, and unlacquered brass form a coherent palette that reads as refined rather than opulent. Custom furniture selections, sourced and specified by the studio, complete each room as an integrated composition.