On A Different Beat

Visiting the StoneLife Super Studio in Hyderabad is like walking into a different world — a tropical haven replete with lush greenery, a water body, and the soft chirping of birds — which also happens to be a showroom filled with the finest curation of natural stones, marbles and Balinese artefacts and sculptures. Slow claps to architect Aamir Sharma and landscapist Naveen Panuganti, the creators of this paradiso.

- Deepa Nair

It was a hot summer day in Hyderabad, a blazing 43 degrees, when architect Aamir Sharma of the famed Aamir & Hameeda was taken to an empty two-acre property — with three massive trees, a flat land with hard soil, and zero vegetation — by his friend Dheeraj Jain, and was assigned the job to create an experiential retail space for natural stones and exotic marbles for the latter's brand StoneLife. This was to be StoneLife’s third retail venture in six years since its inception. “Dheeraj has been a friend for years, and is also my biking buddy,” smiles Aamir. “StoneLife is where we buy all the natural stones we use in our projects, so we know the brand well,” he adds. As the trust in the architect and his design prowess was long established, the only brief from the client was to design something unique and exotic by utilizing the brand’s products for its creation.

Aamir tells me that the entire project started with a sketch: “I spent an afternoon and evening with Dheeraj and my other close friends (also part of this venture) Vishal Jain and G Pavan Kumar, sketching the project. And I still remember how patiently they looked on, were intrigued at times and were so mesmerized with the outcome that they showed the sketch as a presentation to their partners, Subram Kapoor and Brijesh Chandwani.” The design plan which evolved, revolved in and around preserving the three neem trees at the property. This is where landscape architect Naveen Panuganti of Hyderabad-based Naveen Associates walked in and the project started taking shape. After some good thought, the architect and landscapist decided to create the main structure around a neem tree. Everything else, just fell into place after this design move.