A Home for all Seasons

Architect Raseel Gujral Ansal invites us inside her palatial home, Chaand Bagh, in New Delhi that she shares with husband Navin Ansal.

- Chirag Mohanty Samal

I've grown up in Delhi and lived in many homes-courtyard houses, double-height spaces, places where the line between the inside and outside merged," says Raseel Gujral Ansal, architect, artist, and creative director of RGA Design. Those childhood memories wrapped themselves around Delhi's colonial-style columns, Mughal domes, and the couple's contemporary lifestyle, to find form in a singular architectural vocabulary that is Chaand Bagh: the serene home that Raseel shares with her husband Navin Ansal, co-founder and director, RGA Group of Companies.

Far From the Madding Crowd

A narrow Chhatarpur lane in south Delhi leads to the entrance of the farmhouse that is marked by an imposing wooden door. Inside, a flowering frangipani tree greets visitors. A marble statue of Nandi, the sacred bull recognised as the mount of the Hindu god Shiva, sits under the tree.

Further down the main pathway, a pair of marble jaguars sculpted out of white rock from Rajasthan stand guard at the entrance to the home. “They weren't meant as statements,” says Raseel. “I simply liked them,” she adds, referring to the wild cats.

Spread over 2.5 acres, Chaand Bagh has a natural feel to it that doesn't feel constructed and is perhaps Raseel’s most intimate expression yet: a residence where heritage and modernity seamlessly entwine.

“We are both loners,” says Raseel, referring to herself and her husband, Navin. “When we bought this land, 15 years ago, it was even further from the madding crowd. That sense of calm, surrounded by green, with not too many buildings—that’s what drew us.”

A Place for Keepsakes