Designing a home that bridges cultures while embracing contemporary comfort

Nestled in one of Pune’s most verdant and monsoon-drenched zones near Mulshi, this 3BHK bungalow merges the indoors and outdoors. It stands as a testament to thoughtful design that honors both heritage and modernity. Created for a Dubai-returned couple seeking their retirement sanctuary, the project challenged conventional design paradigms by prioritizing personal narrative over formulaic approaches.

Indoors and Outdoors Merge In This Nostalgic Retirement Sanctuary In Mulshi | AKG Design Studio

Contextual Response and Environmental Integration

The home’s location in Pune’s wettest zone presented unique environmental challenges that shaped the architectural response. Strategic fenestration and carefully planned indoors and outdoors allow the occupants to experience the dramatic forest views and changing weather patterns without compromising comfort.

Large-format windows frame the landscape like living artwork, while a glass-covered sit-out area creates a transitional space that mediates between interior and exterior environments. This glazed pavilion enables year-round engagement with nature while providing protection from the region’s intense monsoon winds and rainfall.

The environmental design strategy extends beyond mere weather protection. The positioning of openings creates cross-ventilation patterns that naturally cool the interiors during humid months, while the strategic placement of the sit-out maximizes morning light exposure and provides evening respite. This biophilic design approach ensures the couple remains connected to their natural surroundings throughout the seasonal cycles.

Spatial Programming and Zoning Strategy

The interior planning reflects a sophisticated understanding of public versus private spatial hierarchy. Common areas—including the living room, dining area, entrance foyer, and family room—embrace a maximalist aesthetic that celebrates the couple’s cultural heritage and global experiences.

These spaces function as galleries for their curated collection of artifacts, ranging from traditional Indian crafts to contemporary international pieces.

In contrast, private zones such as bedrooms and the kitchen adopt a more restrained, contemporary vocabulary. This spatial differentiation creates a deliberate transition from the ornate public realm to serene personal retreats.

The kitchen, designed with modern functionality in mind, provides efficient workflow patterns while maintaining visual connectivity to the common areas.

Room-Specific Design Narratives

The guest room doubles as a study, furnished with a natural color palette that creates a calm, versatile environment. Floral upholstery and organic textures provide visual warmth while maintaining the space’s dual functionality.

The son’s bedroom takes a dramatically different approach, featuring clean-lined Scandinavian furniture sourced directly from contemporary catalogs.

This minimalist aesthetic provides a counterpoint to the home’s more ornate public spaces while acknowledging generational differences in design preferences.

The master bedroom embraces a subtly feminine sensibility while maintaining the home’s fusion vocabulary. Different artwork styles, furniture periods, and upholstery textures create layered visual interest without overwhelming the space’s restful function. Custom lighting design highlights key art pieces while providing appropriate illumination for daily activities.

Material Palette and Curatorial Approach

The design language emerges from the couple’s extensive artifact collection, accumulated over decades of international living. An ornate jhula, transported from Dubai, anchors the living room as both functional seating and sculptural centerpiece. This piece establishes the material vocabulary—rich woods, intricate metalwork, and traditional joinery techniques that inform subsequent design decisions.

The curation strategy binds disparate artifacts through common formal elements: shared curvature, complementary materials, or stylistic resonance. Original paintings from the couple’s art collection serve as primary design drivers, influencing wall colors, lighting placement, and material selections. This art-centric approach ensures that each room’s chromatic and material palette supports the displayed works rather than competing with them.

Lighting Design and Atmospheric Control

The lighting strategy balances natural and artificial illumination throughout the home. Warm color temperatures in the evening complement the natural light quality during daytime hours, creating consistent atmospheric continuity. Task lighting in artwork display areas uses museum-quality fixtures to properly illuminate paintings without causing UV damage.

Visual connectivity between the indoors and outdoors is maintained through consistent lighting levels and carefully positioned openings that allow sight lines to flow between rooms. This approach prevents the home from feeling compartmentalized despite its varied aesthetic zones.

Design Philosophy and Cultural Synthesis

This project exemplifies a design methodology that prioritizes authentic self-expression over trend-following. Rather than applying superficial cultural motifs, the design emerges organically from the clients’ personal history and collected objects. The fusion approach avoids pastiche by finding genuine connections between traditional and contemporary elements.

The home’s success lies in its rejection of rigid stylistic categories in favor of a more nuanced approach that celebrates the couple’s multicultural experience. By allowing their collection to guide spatial decisions, the design creates an authentic environment that supports both reminiscence and forward-looking comfort.

This retirement home ultimately demonstrates that successful interior design transcends aesthetic categorization, instead focusing on creating spaces that authentically reflect their inhabitants’ values, experiences, and aspirations. The result is a home where cultural familiarity and modern amenities coexist harmoniously, creating an ideal indoors and outdoors environment for this next chapter of the couple’s lives.

Fact File

Designed by: AKG Design Studio

Project Type: Residential Interior Design

Project Name: The New Old Story

Location: Pune

Year Built: 2014-15

Duration of the project: 6 Months

Project Size: 3000 Sq.ft

Project Cost: 40 Lakhs

Principal Designer: Ashwina Ketan Gandhi

Photograph Courtesy: Sunil Kapadia

Products / Materials / Vendors: Finishes – Dalal & Co, Pune / Construction Materials – Sourced locally Lighting – Wipro, Hybaec / Doors and Partitions – Built on site / Sanitary ware – Jaquar Fittings from Sathe & Co., Pune / Windows – Various sources Mumbai, Pune / Furniture – Bespoke (built on site), IKEA Flooring – Italian Marble by builder / Paint – Asian Paints / Artefacts – Client’s Collection / Wallpaper – Manapasand Frames & Wallpapers / Hardware – Hettich , Blum

Firm’s Website Link: AKG Design Studio

Firm’s Instagram Link: AKG Design Studio

For Similar Project >>> A Striking Brick House with Hints of Traditional Design and Essence of Reformed Living