AXIAL
Living Room project

Warm Minimal Living Room

Location
Surat, Gujarat
Year
2023
Area
900 sq ft
Status
Completed

Tan leather, linen and a gallery wall of family photographs compose a warm, sunlit living room.

Tan leather, linen and a gallery wall of family photographs compose a warm, sunlit living room.

The brief asked for a place that would feel generous without excess. We began with the site — its orientation, its trees, the path of the afternoon sun — and let those observations set the plan before any material was chosen.

Rooms are arranged as a sequence of thresholds: compressed entries that open into tall, light-filled volumes, with views held back until they matter. Services, storage and circulation are gathered into thickened walls so that the principal spaces remain uncluttered.

Light and material

A restrained palette of lime plaster, oak veneer is used consistently inside and out, so the building reads as one continuous piece of craft. Every junction was detailed with the fabricators on site.

Gallery

03 views

01Principal view from the garden
02Evening light across the façade
03Double-height living space

Design concept

The concept is a simple one: a quiet frame for everyday life. Mass is kept low and deep along the street, while the garden side dissolves into glass and shade.

A single organising line — an axis running from entrance to garden — structures the plan, aligning circulation, views and light.

Architecture

Working within the existing shell, we removed non-structural partitions to recover daylight and cross-ventilation, and introduced a new services spine along the party wall.

Interiors

Joinery is built in rift-cut oak and lacquer, with integrated lighting that washes walls rather than floors. Soft furnishings are layered in natural linen, wool and leather so that the rooms grow warmer with use.

Bathrooms are wrapped in a single stone, with bronze fittings chosen to patinate over time.

Palette

Materials

  • 01

    Lime plaster

    Primary material

  • 02

    Oak veneer

    Rift-cut European oak.

Process

Project timeline

  1. 2021 Q1

    Brief & site study

    Site survey, climate analysis and conversations with the client family.

  2. 2021 Q2

    Concept design

    Massing studies, physical models and the first material palette.

  3. 2022 Q1

    Detailed design

    Construction drawings, joinery design and lighting coordination.

  4. 2023

    Construction & handover

    Weekly site supervision through to styling and handover.

Next project

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