Fragrans begins with a sense of return – to family, to familiar landscapes, and to a place that has long been woven into the owners’ story.
Located in Pune’s Uday Baug, the 4,500 sq. ft. residence was designed for Mumbai-based couple Meenal Srinivasan and PRS, envisioned as a home that could hold the intimacy of quiet family weekends just as naturally as the energy of larger gatherings and celebrations.
In Pune, A Home Opens Up To Light, Gardens And Gatherings | Ruchika Chitrabhanu & Ar. Sagar Ved
The project began with an existing architectural shell of generous proportions, yet one that did not fully engage with its surroundings. The house already possessed volume and scale; what it needed was a greater sense of openness and a stronger connection to the landscape around it. Rather than reinventing the structure, the design sought to gently unlock its potential – drawing in more light, opening up views and allowing the interiors, verandah and garden to speak more freely to one another.
One of the most significant interventions was made in the main living area, where the existing French windows were enlarged to create taller, more generous openings towards the garden. This relatively simple gesture transformed the experience of the room. Daylight now travels deeper into the interior, views extend outward and the landscape becomes an immediate presence within the space. The living room feels less contained by its walls, flowing naturally towards the verandah and garden beyond. What was once a clearly defined edge between inside and outside now feels softer and more fluid, lending the space a greater sense of openness and ease.
The sense of volume is first encountered at the entrance. A soaring atrium forms the heart of the arrival sequence, anchored by a sculptural staircase that rises through the void. Suspended fabric lanterns float overhead, accentuating the height of the space, while striped flooring introduces a bold graphic rhythm at ground level. The composition is dramatic without being excessive — the eye is drawn upward before the home gradually begins to reveal itself.
From this central volume, the plan unfolds as a series of contrasting spatial experiences. The living room is expansive and washed with natural light, while the library above overlooks the space, establishing a visual dialogue between the two levels. Beyond, the verandah and garden draw the eye outward, extending the experience of the room into the landscape. Interior, verandah and garden begin to read as parts of one continuous composition rather than as isolated zones.
The dining room offers a deliberate counterpoint. Where the living areas celebrate openness, the dining room embraces intimacy. Enveloped in richly patterned wallpaper, it is immersive, warm and visually layered. As a room centred around shared meals, long conversations and celebrations, it was allowed a greater intensity — creating a more enclosed, atmospheric pause within the otherwise expansive home.
Rather than subscribing to a singular design language, the interiors are built through layers. Colour, pattern, art and crafted details move through the house in varying degrees, allowing individual rooms to develop distinct identities while remaining connected to a larger narrative.
Personal histories quietly surface within these layers. A Chettinad-inspired wallpaper recalls PRS’s ancestral roots, translating memory into pattern rather than reproducing it literally. Artworks by Meenal’s sister, Shraddha Borawake, bring another intimate dimension to the home. Several of these works became points of departure for the spaces around them, informing choices of colour, texture and pattern. Art was therefore not treated as something to be added at the end, but as part of the process of shaping the interiors themselves.
This relationship between memory and contemporary living became central to the project. Existing furniture was not discarded simply to make way for the new. Several pieces were retained, restored and reinterpreted, allowing familiar objects to inhabit new surroundings alongside contemporary additions. The result is a home that feels accumulated rather than assembled – layered over time rather than conceived as a single, freshly composed scheme. The old and the new are allowed to coexist without either having to disguise itself.
As one moves upstairs, the visual tempo softens. The four bedrooms were deliberately conceived as individual spaces rather than variations of one formula. Each responds to the personality of its occupant, moving between deep, saturated hues and quieter pastel tones. Pattern and texture remain present, but with a lighter hand, allowing the more private spaces to feel restful, warm and distinctly personal. The bedrooms continue the larger idea of the house: that a home becomes richer when its spaces are allowed to have their own character while still belonging to a cohesive whole.
The architecture and landscape were also approached through a conscious environmental lens. The garden was drawn more closely into the experience of the interiors, reinforcing the relationship between the built and natural environments. Rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and solar energy were incorporated into the property, while reuse and refurbishment were prioritised wherever possible. Sustainability here was therefore not treated as an additional layer, but as part of the broader philosophy of working with what already existed.
At its core, Fragrans explores how an existing house can be transformed through a series of considered interventions rather than dramatic reconstruction. An opening can change the way light moves through a room; a view can bring the landscape into everyday life; a familiar piece of furniture can carry history into a new setting; and a work of art can influence the character of an entire room.
The architecture and interiors work together here not as separate disciplines, but as parts of the same evolving story. For designers Ruchika Chitrabhanu and Sagar Ved, memory was not something to be recreated or preserved unchanged – it was something to be given a present tense. The intention was to allow familiar histories, objects and references to find new meaning within a contemporary way of living.
The resulting home exists comfortably between contrasts: openness and intimacy, familiarity and surprise, restraint and exuberance, old and new. Its character emerges not from a single gesture, but from the accumulation of many considered ones.
Fragrans feels less like a house remade and more like one allowed to continue its story – carrying the memories already embedded within it while making room for those still to come.
Fact File
Designed by: Ruchika Chitrabhanu & Ar. Sagar Ved
Project Type: Residential Interior Design
Project Name: Fragrans – Uday Baug Residence
Location: Pune
Year Built: 2024 – 2025
Duration of the project: 09 months – 12 months
Built-up Area: 4500 sqft
Principal Architects: Ruchika Chitrabhanu & Ar. Sagar Ved
Photograph Courtesy: hemant.patil.photographer
Firm’s Instagram Link: Ruchika Chitrabhanu & Ar. Sagar Ved
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