THE COURTYARD HOUSE

This home belongs to Sunita Kohli, Padma Shri awardee and celebrated interior designer. Its recent renewal-crafted in collaboration with her daughter, architect Kohelika Kohli- unfolds as an intergenerational conversation, one that refines the residence without altering its protected architectural fabric. Set within a post-modern 1950s bungalow, the redesign respects the home's original proportions and structure, choosing instead to work through materiality, craft and curation. Surfaces have been revived, joinery rearticulated, and spatial rhythms enhanced through a more intentional layering of furniture, textiles and light. The result is an interior that feels clearer, more cohesive, and yet profoundly personal.

The living room forms the intellectual heart of the home—a tapestry of Tanjore paintings, Shia Alams, Christian icons and a library that anchors decades of scholarship. The central courtyard remains its emotional core, a space long associated with music, conversation and intimate cultural evenings, continuing to shape the family's daily life.

Across the home, each room has its own quiet signature. Sunita Kohli's eclectic sensibility meets Kohelika's architectural discipline in spaces that balance memory with modernity. The redesign celebrates the enduring dialogue between contemporary design and Indian arts, crafts and antiquities - shaping a home that is warm, storied and timeless in its resonance.