Although it looks deceptively simple, designing white interiors is an art. It requires a delicate balance of texture and pattern, combining the right shades of white and introducing appropriate color accents. These three houses from the ADVERTISEMENT Archives show you how it’s done!
A 1970s house in Ahmedabad
Built in the 1970s and recently restored by AD100 architect Kunal Shah, this modernist house in Ahmedabad is a reminder of the classical domestic architecture that a generation of Indians grew up in—a timeless modernity that we have adapted to our culture, climate, materials and domestic rituals.
Built in a modernist style with clean lines, spacious rooms and en-suite bathrooms, and with generous verandahs on all sides for cross ventilation and light, this six-bedroom house in Ahmedabad has been in good condition for 50 years. The owners chose the architect carefully – someone whose interventions would be minimal and sensitive. So they invited Kunal Shah, a designer and family friend. Shah’s journey, as he himself continues to discover over time, revolved around the relationship between austerity and opulence.
The space has a Gandhian austerity; handwoven rugs made from natural materials like hemp, old-fashioned palangs or high couches and floor gaddis are scattered throughout the house. Shah believes in a sophisticated minimalism, a modernity that is about simplicity and rooted in domestic rituals. The spaces in the house allow for informal postures, as opposed to formal sitting at a table and chair. “You can sit cross-legged, lie down, take a nap, read the newspaper. It’s a certain lifestyle, a Gujarati way of life, where you come home in the afternoon when it’s light and hot, rest and sit back, chat, play a card or board game. So the furniture also allows you to relive a leisurely pace of life,” says Shah.
A duplex penthouse in the West Village
Adam Kane Macchia
Adam Kane Macchia
In the modern style of new West Village residences, New York designer Purvi Padia’s single-family home could be considered a wrinkle in time. The fundamentals of classical architecture—from sophisticated symmetry and sturdy columns to dramatically veined stone slabs—give this 5,900-square-foot space its firmitas, utilitas, venustas (Latin for “strength, utility, beauty”). “There’s not a lot of color or art on the walls, so the staircase becomes the main sculptural artwork,” Padia says. “It’s a real focal point that not only draws you deeper into the apartment, but also becomes a touchstone that you can see from almost anywhere inside.”
he dining room sits at the foot of the home’s centerpiece, a lush, sweeping staircase. “In a building and apartment otherwise defined by strong lines and angles, the softer form really stands out,” says architect Alex Nizhikhovskiy of local design studio Turett Collaborative. The custom, capsule-shaped dining table was made by Phaw Woodworks and the Kingdom chandelier is by Lindsey Adelman.
