The mango tree is quite a permanent fixture of many childhood memories—reclining under its shade in sweltering summers; messy mouths eating the lush, succulent fruit, both in raw, tangy green or a pulpy, ripe yellow, jubilant like the tropical sun. “The memory isn’t mine alone but belongs to the Indian subcontinent’s collective consciousness,” says homeowner and leading portrait photographer Rohit Chawla.
In 2003, long before Assagao gentrified to become Goa’s version of Beverly Hills, Chawla bought this plot of land, carved into a hill, with a mango tree right in the centre. “When I saw the land, I was somehow reminded of summer holidays spent under a tree somewhere in Lucknow as a teenager,” says Chawla. He invited architect Sidharth Naik to guide him, and ensure that the spectacular tree melded into the house, or the other way around— neither interrupting the other. “Over the years, this house has brought to me a bunch of different pleasures. One can have air conditioning, but also the shade of a mango tree. Our living room is elevated at the mid-tree level, which really gives you a sense of closeness to the tree outside,” says Chawla.
This story is from the May - June 2021 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May - June 2021 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Curator
AD’s Art issue would be incomplete without an essay on Peggy Guggenheim, the philanthropist and visionary who was collecting through the war years, and whose home-turned-museum in Venice has one of the most important holdings of modern art in the world.
Raw Mango Agama
TEXTILES HAVE BEEN INTEGRAL TO THE STORYTELLING AT AD IN PRINT. IN A NATURAL STEP AHEAD, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THE AD DESIGN SHOW THIS YEAR OPENED WITH A GARMENT PRESENTATION. THE MOOD, THE MUSIC, THE PEOPLE, THE TEXTILES EVERYTHING WAS MAGIC.
JAIVEER JOHAL'S CHENNAI HOME IS
FLANKED BY THE ADYAR RIVER ON ONE SIDE AND THE BAY OF BENGAL ΟΝ THE OTHER, AND ANCHORED IN A SEA OF ART AMIDST WHICH HE LIVES IN THIS BOLDLY DESIGNED ONEBEDROOM APARTMENT
D
IN A CHARMING ART DECO BUILDING IN MUMBAI'S HERITAGE PRECINCT, WITH THE BUSTLE OF OVAL MAIDAN ACROSS THE ROAD, COLLECTOR DARA MEHTA LIVES AMONG A STAGGERING COLLECTION OF ART IN A STARKLY MINIMAL HOME THAT IS MEDITATIVE AND RESTRAINED IN ITS INTERIORS DESIGNED BY NETERWALA AIBARA INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND ALL FOR THE ART TO SHINE THROUGH.
WELCOME TO THE AMINS BARODA HOME
THE CITY OF BARODA-NOW CALLED VADODARA IS INTRICATELY LINKED TO THE HISTORY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN INDIA. REFLECTING THIS JOURNEY IS MALIKA AND CHIRAYU AMIN'S ANCESTRAL HOME AND THEIR INCREDIBLE COLLECTION OF ART.
60 Years of Chemould
In telling the story of Gallery Chemould, Jerry Pinto writes a short history of art in the city
Bijoy Jain
AT FONDATION CARTIER
Treasure Hunt at Alessi
Cristina Kiran Piotti visits the Alessi Museum in Omegna, Italy, and discovers India-inspired creations in the archive of an iconic Italian design house.
What's New at the Art Fair
Design gets a special space at this year’s India Art Fair, with the iconic Carpenters Workshop Gallery curating a section along with Ashiesh Shah.
The Life and Work of KG Subramanyan
In the year of the artist's birth centenary, Mortimer Chatterjee remembers this boundless creative genius across the histories of art, craft and design.