Keshar Bagh sits amid expansive greenery near GIFT City, Gandhinagar, offering a serene weekend retreat for relaxed living, intimate gatherings and private occasions. Spread across a 25,200 sq.ft site with a built-up area of approximately 1,500 sq.ft, the project deliberately resists occupying the landscape with an oversized built mass. Instead, the house remains low, compact and quietly positioned within the property, allowing the garden to define much of its character and everyday experience.
The brief called for a place that could move easily between different modes of occupation, quiet weekends for the family, informal gatherings with friends, and occasional small celebrations. This flexibility shaped both the scale of the house and the organisation of its outdoor spaces. Rather than separating architecture and landscape into two distinct layers, the design treats them as parts of a continuous living environment.
Keshar Bagh Lets The Landscape Lead The Story Of A Weekend Home | Twin Studio Works
The planning of this weekend home is straightforward and intentionally uncomplicated. The living, dining and kitchen areas form the home’s primary social spaces, while the bedroom opens directly onto the expansive green space outside. This connection extends the bedroom towards the landscape, allowing the lawn and surrounding greenery to become part of the living experience. This openness reinforces the relaxed character expected of a weekend home, where the experience of the outdoors remains present across both shared and personal spaces.
At the heart of this relationship is the verandah, which forms one of the most important spatial elements of Keshar Bagh. Running along the garden-facing edge, it creates a shaded intermediate zone between the enclosed interiors and the open landscape. More than a circulation passage or conventional sit-out, it becomes an inhabitable threshold somewhere to sit, gather, pause and engage with the garden throughout the day.
A rhythm of square columns and gently profiled arches gives the verandah its architectural identity, while its depth offers shade and softens the transition from inside to outside. The sequence is gradual: enclosed room, shaded edge, lawn and landscape. Together with the Otla, this threshold extends the experience of the house well beyond its compact built footprint.
The architectural expression draws on familiar traditional elements without attempting to reproduce a historic style. The weekend home forms a low horizontal volume, with warm textured walls, projecting mouldings, profiled arches, brackets and carefully framed openings. These details add character and craftsmanship while maintaining a sense of proportion.
The window detailing plays a key role in shaping the façade. Natural wood windows sit within precast moulded surrounds, fluted vertical elements and ornamental brackets that create depth and shadow. The design repeats these precast elements across cornices, arches and other architectural details, establishing a consistent visual language. Each element contributes to the proportions and composition of the façade rather than serving as a separate decorative layer.
A muted, earthy material palette supports this architectural language. Warm terracotta-toned textured plaster forms the primary exterior surface, contrasted by softer off-white precast details and natural wood. Kota stone serves as the principal flooring material, with mirror-polished and leather finishes used in different spaces. Its subtle grey-green tone grounds the warmer plaster and timber surfaces, reinforcing the home’s understated character.
Natural wood defines the doors and windows, while local carpenters crafted much of the furniture. Simple forms and proportions allow the architecture and surrounding landscape to remain the visual focus. The project also sources lighting locally, using understated fixtures to add warmth in the evenings without drawing unnecessary attention. Terracotta planters, dark metal elements and restrained hardware complete the palette with materials that feel familiar and tactile.
The weekend home uses a conventional RCC-framed structure with brick masonry walls. Precast components add ornamentation to the façade through mouldings and brackets. This straightforward construction system allows greater attention to proportion, junctions and the finer details that define the building’s identity.
The landscape forms an integral part of the project rather than serving as a decorative backdrop. Manicured lawns, mature vegetation, shaded seating areas and framed views organise the expansive site into distinct experiences. Broad green spaces create an open, expansive setting around the house. Smaller landscape features offer intimate spots for gatherings and quiet retreats.
A secluded fireplace corner forms one such pocket, offering an intimate setting for evening conversations and small gatherings. Elsewhere, shaded seating and lounge areas are positioned to take advantage of the garden and create informal destinations within the larger site. These spaces allow the property to accommodate both solitude and social activity without requiring additional enclosed built area.
The arrival landscape follows the same restrained approach. Interlocking paving in muted grey and terracotta tones complements the earthy façade, while planting softens the transition between the paved court and the garden. Terracotta planters, clipped shrubs and existing greenery establish a gradual shift from the more structured arrival zone towards the open landscape beyond.
Keshar Bagh ultimately finds its identity in the balance between architecture and expansive outdoor living. The weekend house does not rely on scale, excess or overt ornamentation to create presence. Instead, its character emerges through shade, proportion, material, crafted details and the constant presence of the landscape.
As a weekend home, it is intentionally relaxed and adaptable. The verandah encourages life to spill outdoors, the bedroom opens directly to the green expanse, the otla and shaded thresholds create places of pause, and the larger garden accommodates both intimate everyday use and occasional celebrations. Together, these elements create a retreat where architecture remains measured and composed, while the landscape is allowed to complete the experience of living.
Fact File
Designed by: Twin Studio Works
Project Type: Residential Architecture Design
Project Name: Keshar Bagh Farm
Location: Gift City Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Year Built: 2024
Duration of the project: 1 Year
Project Size: 25,200 Sq.ft
Principal Architects: Ar. Kushal Jani & Ar. Kaushal Jani
Team Design Credits: ID. Purva Pujari, Ar. Naina Kapadiya, Ar. Aditi Jani & Ar. Hetvi Soni
Photograph Courtesy: Ar. Aditi Jani & Ar. Hetvi Soni
Firm’s Website Link: Twin Studio Works
Firm’s Instagram Link: Twin Studio Works
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