Some design meetings transcend their decreed modus operandi of swapping visions and mapping timelines. When Dolly Jain, matriarch of a three-generation household, met with Krishna Mistry and Anand Jariwala of DOT, her warm demeanour left an indelible mark. “Among friends and family, Dolly is most celebrated for two things: delicious food and her gorgeous presentation. The sheer joy she derives from taking care of her loved ones is so palpable,” smiles Krishna in recollection.
When trading their bungalow for a 3,400-square-foot Surat apartment in an upscale conclave, the Jains were not downsizing their lives but widening their sense of home—one attuned to closeness. The architects met this desire by placing the kitchen, Dolly’s haven, at the apartment’s open-plan core, Vastu tenets in tow.
Morphing Vantages
A skewed entry reveals the home’s heart: a large square framing a smaller, rotated square within. “This intervention directs the house towards the kitchen and the rooms are aligned to establish a visual and social connection,” explains Anand.
Mistry and Jariwala’s rendition of the four-bedroom abode is an apt homage to its name. “The layout feels dynamic, something you explore one layer at a time. With the house encased in glass, light is abundant. Much like the shifting imagery inside a kaleidoscope, the views within morph with each turn,” Krishna illustrates.
The Art of Restraint
“I’m the empath, wanting our clients to have everything they desire, while Krishna is more discerning,” says Jariwala. “She has taught me that when you are not entangled in the unnecessary, you begin to relish what matters. Families can remain bound to spaces and habits that no longer serve them, and Krishna’s clarity helps distil their vision to what is essential,” he notes.
This devotion to minimalism defines the home’s mien—grey micro-concrete-washed walls, sleek furniture that feels inherent to the dwelling, the fine-grained tactility of Kota floors, and, as Mistry puts it best, “the ability to see space”. Textiles and artwork summon colour, softening the shell’s monotone persona, while embedded light sources envelop the residence in a soft radiance.
Journeying Inwards
The home’s hearth, the kitchen, has been conceived with deliberate nuance, Mistry adds: “the kitchen wall ensures privacy without confining. It shields the space from direct view while granting those within a clear gaze across the communal areas.”
Spaces like the study serve as soulful interludes, where the quiet harmony of daily rituals ebbs and flows. “This area stood at the intersection of three bedrooms. We risked it becoming a lacklustre zone. I’m glad we were able to create a space that the family now finds indispensable—from homework and reading to remote working routines, the study hosts it all,” quips Jariwala. Bedrooms embody the studio’s signature blend of pragmatism and sculptural expression, with furniture seemingly rising from the floor plane.
“The Surat apartment was never meant to be looked at only once and decoded. It is meant to be lived in, its spaces shifting through the day. However, our biggest reward is Dolly’s testimonial—she has fallen even more in love with cooking! And that revelation means the world to us,” conclude the architects. At Kaleidoscopic House, domesticity is a feeling that engulfs every gesture of care and draws the family inwards, around the one who holds their world together.
Styled by Samir Wadekar
