The house, with its imperious entrance, built by her great-great-grandfather Sardar Narain Singh, was structured in the tradition of a haveli with a massive gate that subtly symbolized her family's exalted status. Rai's additions include an annexe at the back, which has several bedrooms, a kitchen, a craft room, dining area, a winter room, and her personal space on the first floor.
Many design elements in the house owe their origins to the vernacular design vocabulary of rural Punjab, and each has been mindfully incorporated with pride and intent.
Peepal Haveli is now fully ready-not just as a private residence but as a place where Rai plans to foster community initiatives and soulful farming practices. It's a house that now stands as a quiet testament to a woman's enduring love for her land and her people.
In a sunlit career that has seen her taking on some of the most arduous conservation projects in India, the 17-year renovation of her ancestral house, Peepal Haveli, has been no less challenging.
“The way I express myself in architecture reflects my rootedness to the land with all the sights, sounds, and textures of the vernacular. But I also want the sociology and the psychology of a place to inform the architecture.
I like to innovate, so I am keen to use solar panels on the terrace, and implement efficient new water and waste management practices.”
Rai admits to being particularly fond of the Indo-Saracenic works of Bhai Ram Singh, the architect behind many of the landmarks in Lahore.
This story is from the November - December 2024 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November - December 2024 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
AS NEW DELHI'S GALLERY ESPACE MARKS ITS 35TH ANNIVERSARY, AD LOOKS AT GALLERIST RENU MODI'S JOURNEY IN ART.
The New Delhi-based Gallery Espace, founded by Renu Modi in 1989, recently marked its 35th anniversary with two special exhibitions.
ROCHELLE PINTO, EDITOR OF VOGUE INDIA, WRITES ABOUT FORCES OF FASHION, WHICH PUT 39 UNIQUE WORKS UNDER ONE ROOF, PIECING TOGETHER A SHORT HISTORY OF FASHION IN INDIA.
If you want to step into the mind of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the game-changing Spanish couturier who died over 50 years ago, all you have to do is beg, bribe or charm your way into 10 Avenue George V in Paris.
AS INVISIBLE COLLECTION COMES TO INDIA, FOUNDERS ISABELLE DUBERNMALLEVAYS AND LILY FROEHLICHER SHARE THEIR SERENDIPITOUS JOURNEY TO THE COUNTRY.
Isabelle Dubern-Mallevays and Lily Froehlicher first found India at their doorstep when Sonam Kapoor Ahuja borrowed a few pieces from their collection for an AD India cover story in 2021.
ANONYMOUS ARTIST PRINCESS PEA SHOWCASES A COLLECTION OF NINE NEW PRINTS AT THE SOHO HOUSE LOUNGE AT ART MUMBAI.
In Princess Pea's new collection of works, poetry, craft and the divine femininity coalesce with grace.
ARTISTS RITU AND SURYA SINGH'S WONDERLAND OF A HOMESTUDIO IN THE PINK CITY URGES YOU TO LOOK AT THE BEAUTY AND NARRATIVE OF WASTE.
Husband-wife artist duo Ritu and Surya Singh, better known as Wolf, live at \"The Farm\", a unique 20-acre madhouse of wonders in the heart of Jaipur.
KENGO KUMA TALKS TO AD ABOUT HIS DESIGN ADDITIONS AS THE CENTRO DE ARTE MODERNA GULBENKIAN IN LISBON OPENS ITS DOORS AGAIN.
Everyone who has lived in Lisbon likely has a fond memory of the Gulbenkian complex.
FROM HIS REVERENCE FOR GANDHI TO HIS LOVE OF DANCE, A BOOK BY DAG OFFERS NEW WAYS TO KNOW MF HUSAIN.
If there was ever an Indian artist who earned immense fame and yet remained unknowable, it is MF Husain.
WHAT WOULD BAWA DO? WONDERS APARNA RAO, COFOUNDER OF PHANTOM HANDS, AS SHE PRODUCES REISSUES OF GEOFFREY BAWA'S HIGHLY CONTEXTUAL FURNITURE.
In mid-December last year, in the freshly restored Kannangara House designed by Geoffrey Bawa in 1959, an exhibition based on the late Sri Lankan master's furniture designs opened.
BANGLADESHI ARTIST AYESHA SULTANA'S RECENT DUBAI EXHIBITION EXPLORED THE DUAL NATURE OF STRENGTH AND FRAGILITY.
Born in Bangladesh in 1984, the US-based Ayesha Sultana explores notions of form, space and materiality.
WE CATCH UP WITH TARIK CURRIMBHOY AT HIS STUDIO IN NEW YORK, AFTER HIS FIRST SOLO SHOW IN INDIA.
Tarik Currimbhoy's sculptures have a pure, meditative quality. A viewer can stand mesmerized for hours watching the elegant, geometric shapes move back and forth.
