This retail design does not focus on the product alone! | Home with glass balconies amid the scenic mountains| Taste of La Dolce Vita…| and more

Projects

SAOTA shapes this Cape Town residence to blur the unmistakable thresholds between landscape and architecture, drawing on soft transitions and honest expressions.

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Editorial Dear IAnDian, La dolce vita – the good life! What is the ‘good life’? Luxury at your fingertips? A luxurious, scenic second home? A liveable space that balances both - sustainability and contemporary needs? A little bit of every aspect that one needs and… desires? Or is ‘the good life’ a commonplace phrase for everything gung-ho in life - that keeps changing according to one’s priorities? More so this, I would think, especially in today’s parlance. So from visiting the mountainous, glass-balconied home that opens to the panoramic views in Cape Town, Africa (our cover story), to the Vision Hotel in Italy’s Lake Garda that depicts a formidable mix of green and modern elements, to a human-centric experiential interior in Mumbai that focuses on the person more than the product, turning the popular retail sales dictum on its head; we have just three stories for you this week. With an in-house celebration underway – our sister concern – Gallery Pradarshak celebrates its 25th Anniversary over the weekend, IAnD will be taking a short sabbatical and will be back at your service on the 19th of June. Do take a look at www.gallerypradarshak.com and you are most welcome to attend the celebrity brigade on 8th and 9th June, Mumbai. Warm regards, Savitha Hira Editor								sponsored In case you missed it earlier.

Will the new Karle Town masterplan reinstate Bengaluru’s Garden City charm? | Looking for a larger design vision| Digipop Rug Collection by Karim Rashid| and more

Projects

Structured, yet flexible. Bold, yet minimal. Fran Silvestre Arquitectos presents a play of spatial configurations and functional aesthetics through the interiors of their latest residence, ‘The Fourth Room’...

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Editorial Dear IAnDian, When the architectural vocabulary is potent, the feeling, the aura, the response to the built form... is sublime. It gives a special intellectual high to comprehend the sensibilities of the architect, his thought process in the design and the ultimate interaction of inanimate with animate. 'Do walls have ears?' sounds passé. Walls have eyes, they mouth words, have emotions... as they come alive in such architecture. History recounts the provenance of such built forms. Our cover story - the home in Valencia is one such example too. A must read. UNStudio's progressive masterplan in Bengaluru for a tech company; a home that serenades its Pichola Lake surrounds in Udaipur, and a home that celebrates exposed bricks in a raw aesthetic are some of the other stories this week. So, while you battle the summer sun outdoors, we help you cool off with a visual treat inside. Warm regards, Savitha Hira Editor								sponsored In case you missed it earlier.

Toy Room: Delhi’s playfully evocative club | Appetisingly refreshing: Dadu’s in Hyderabad| Thailand’s Little Shelter Hotel| and more

Signature

International nightlife brand Toy Room’s first Indian outlet in New Delhi aligns perfectly with its foreign counterparts, where provocative playfulness amidst an elite clubbing experience is the norm…

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Editorial Dear IAnDian, Our mailboxes seem to be suddenly flooded with a lot of hospitality projects. Different thematics, varying décor elements... each creating an aura so distinctive that it can hold its customer on the aesthetics quotient; the rest of course is the mandate of the cuisine and the chef! Yet, each is bound by the most common element - the emotional connect. Speaking of the interiors, much thought goes into detailing and this is evident in all our stories this week. Our cover story, Toy Room, stands up to its international counterparts - thanks to Chromed Design Studio for crafting some eclectic imagery. It is commendable how sophistication has been equalised with inuendo - with a flair that all at once says - "I care, whilst you may sport a devil-may-care attitude!!" An appealingly superb use of the Teddy Bear mascot as it takes on the onus of the design and the decor - especially in the way the graphics have been conceived. Do check it out. Our rendezvous with more hospitality projects will continue into the coming week. So, stay tuned... Warm regards, Savitha Hira Editor								sponsored In case you missed it earlier.

When passion drives design| The stage as the storyteller| Crafting experiences for the style-conscious| and more

Ideas

Sergey Makhno Architects bring their love for Japan to Ukraine via a maze-like Japanese restaurant, carefully balancing the outlook of the city folk with the nuanced culture of a foreign land…

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Editorial Dear IAnDian, Sometimes a little soul-searching goes a long way. We bring you two very strong designs this week – one from Ukraine (the cover story) and the other from Latvia. Both stories underline the premise that when design is fervently driven by passion, the outcome is simply fabulous! To commemorate 100 years of Latvia with a multi-media dance performance, Didzis Jaunzems Architecture has worked in tandem with a video artist to design a stage that accommodates artistes against backdrops of shifting video projections – suited to both, large groups as well as solo performers. The strength of the design lies in its built form – as it alludes to the Latvian flag and several technologically-driven polygonal surfaces. Do check out these breath-taking tableaus. Our cover story stems straight from the heart where our chef Fujiwara Yoshi – Japanese at heart and Ukranian by livelihood, joins hands with Sergey Makhno Architects to craft an eponymous restaurant representing exactly the sentiment – Japanese culture flirting with a charming Ukrainian soul. The large space is beautifully demarcated into different zones, ensuring diner comfort and variety without digressing from its locus-foci. Warm regards, Savitha Hira Editor								sponsored In case you missed it earlier.

Reconciling with nature| Self-sufficiency in public transport| Educational campus of the future| and more

Projects

An epitome of biophilic design, Amaya Resort conceived by Salient Design Studio seeks articulate connections with nature.

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Editorial Dear IAnDian, Look around you and you will notice an increasing awareness of a diligent use of resources world over. There seems a rise in the responsibility of 'informed' built forms. Our stories this week reinstate the premise: whether it's a sociological need that the built form fulfils as much as it does the emotional need, as Ar. Romil Sheth of Sasaki Design talks about the ideal educational campus of the future; or as architecture office cepezed unravels the design of the first self-sufficient - a fully-integrated bus station in Tilburg, The Netherlands that generates its own energy. Can this module toe a global footprint? And closer to home is our cover story, where sustainability is the fulcrum of the design of this luxury resort in West Bengal. A story that reinstates the human-nature connect that the race for all things mechanical and technological is paring out for our eyes to see and our soul to acknowledge. Enjoy the read! Warm regards, Savitha Hira Editor								sponsored In case you missed it earlier.