- 11 months ago
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi everyone, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan. Welcome back to another edition of Dubai Dream
00:24Home series. I'm at the Dubai Hills Estate neighborhood. I'm here to see Vinod and Suvarna
00:30Jadav. Their home is beautiful. It's like an oasis of calm. There are at least so many beautiful
00:36petrified olive trees as well along with a beautiful sand-colored structure. This is going
00:42to be one of the most, I think, classy homes that I've ever been to. Let's go.
00:47Hi, hello. Welcome to our home. Thank you. Thank you. It's so beautiful inside. It's gorgeous.
00:53It's an oasis of calm. Thank you so much. Thank you.
01:01Welcome to our home. Yeah, it's so gorgeous. You have to say that this is like a slice of
01:06India, incredible India being transported into the UAE, the sand-colored buildings. You've
01:12managed to strike a great balance, haven't you? Yeah, so it's very interesting. We wanted
01:17to build a contextual desert home in Dubai. Interestingly, Dubai, the way the sun movement
01:25is, is very similar to India, but it is a desert. So we wanted to make sure that the positive energy
01:33of the sun comes in and the harsh sun stays out. So what was the solution for that? So
01:38we went back to our ancient science called Vastu Shastra. Of course. Yeah, which is architectural
01:43science, thousands of years old. It talks about synergy between sun, wind, and in Indian
01:51context, the rainwater. Of course, in Dubai context, there is not much challenge of rainwater,
01:57but a sun, managing the heat of the sun is a major challenge in architecture. And with that
02:03brief, our architecture started building this house. And as you'd have seen, with so much
02:09of subdued light coming from north, it always maintains the positivity. I can see that. I'm
02:14going to bandy around some staggering statistics. It's set in like a 40,000 square foot home.
02:20It right now in the market, if you look at it, it is 250 million dirhams, which is just so
02:27staggering. But what I love about this mansion is that it doesn't scream Dubai bling at all.
02:33It is so classy. I've never seen a more classier home. And I think it kind of reflects. I mean,
02:39I look at both of you so very simple. Did you want less is more philosophy into your home?
02:45Indeed. I mean, see this, the size itself needs to be, you know, kind of in terms of its opulence,
02:54you don't have to do anything else apart from its size. The real challenge was how do you manage
03:00building a humble home at 40,000 square feet? I like that humble home at 40,000 square foot.
03:08That's a new humility I don't know about, but yeah, go for it. Yeah. So we decided, you know,
03:14to use the very ardi colors, you know, very plain palettes, natural materials. And that has really
03:22made the house, uh, you know, subdued from the typical, uh, you know, houses here in Dubai. We
03:29see, uh, what is famously known as Dubai bling. We wanted to avoid it completely. I love that. No,
03:35I love that because it would have been very easier, easy to have gold ceilings, uh, gold here and there.
03:41This is one of the few houses I've seen with very little, like, I mean, you can't, you have to really
03:46hunt a lot. You find a bit of there, but it's more about the art, the art installation. Is that how
03:52you are? You guys are both like very interested in art? Yes, indeed. I mean, you will see a lot of
03:59Indian art in the house, but art in general is what I like and what Suvarna likes. And, uh, we,
04:05we like the things to be simple and minimalistic. Right, right. That is what you see throughout the
04:10house. Right. I love the fact that there's a bit of Jaipur here, like the steps every part, even your
04:16swimming pool area, which we will take you to is beautiful. It's got steps in it. It's like being
04:22in Rajasthan, but in being in Dubai. It is such an amazing, uh, feeling. You use the pool quite a bit.
04:27I think both of you, right? We use the pool quite a bit. You would have seen our home theater. We use
04:32quite a bit of that. Uh, in terms of the material use, you'll find a lot of Indian material being used.
04:38I wanted to have a piece of my, uh, hometown Pune. So, we got a lot of things, you know,
04:44quarried from our quarries in Pune. The stone, what we have used in our Puja Ghar, or at the entrance
04:50for our Tulsi Vrindavan, or for the dedication plaque. All that stone has come from our hometown.
04:56Right. Yes, a lot of, uh, I love that. In the beginning, he was telling me this house also has some
05:01Mexican influences. Uh, you have to talk, walk me through it. If you look at the outdoor space as well,
05:06it's very different from the rest of the house. Uh, what made you, uh, is Mahiko your favorite, uh,
05:12holiday place? So, when we wanted to design a contextual desert home, uh, where do you see the
05:18nearest, uh, you know, well-known architectural architecture, which comes from desert? So,
05:25the nearest reference was Morocco and the second was, uh, Mexico. Right. So, you would find that there
05:31are a lot of Moroccan elements. As you would see the swimming pool, it's like a hammam. Yes,
05:36it is. You're right. It is a hammam with Jaipur influences. Yes, with Jaipur, with Jaipur
05:40stones. And you'd found the fountain at the entrance is very Moroccan. The standing wall,
05:46it's almost 80 feet wall. Uh, that comes from, uh, this famous architect, architect from Mexico,
05:52Barragan. Uh, so you'll find these, uh, references of desert architecture around the world. Right,
05:59right. In this house. Uh, what I love about this home as well is that it's won so many awards.
06:04It's apparently also a part of a syllabus of some, uh, universities where they're taught about,
06:09look at how all the elements came into it, how beautifully you've done it. Does it make you feel
06:15very proud that you've built such a beautiful home? Like it was built during the pandemic,
06:20one of the most toughest times to build anything, forget we couldn't step out.
06:24Tell us all about building a home during the pandemic. So we started construction at the
06:30peak of pandemic, December, 2020, uh, while almost everything was shut down. So, but then being in
06:36Dubai, it was always possible to have, uh, you need about 15, 16 different approvals, you know,
06:42before you start construction and luckily all of them were available online. Right. So even when
06:47the authority had a question about the designs, we had, uh, video calls with them and we
06:52clarified, clarified to them and we got the approvals in time. Uh, so that was incredible. During these
06:59two years, though the, uh, whole world was suffering from COVID pandemic, we did not have a single day
07:06of, uh, disruption. Yeah. So you built this whole home during the pandemic?
07:11Whole of our life from December, 2020 to, uh, January, February of 23 when we finished it. Right. So it was,
07:18uh, we had, I think two or three waves of, uh, of COVID during that time, but we did not have any
07:24disruption. Oh, that's brilliant. So now you have to tell me, I think you love to throw a bit of a
07:28party. Do you, do you like hosting here and your friends enjoy? What do you enjoy? You love it? Oh,
07:34that's amazing. Uh, what about, do you guys host a lot? Maybe like both of you, do you throw big parties?
07:40What kind of, we are not big party people. You are not? They are very simple. We, we do, we have
07:46Diwali parties, uh, in the month of September, we have big, uh, Ganesh festival. Ganesh festival is
07:53very big. We do it for all the five days, like a Maharashtrian tradition of doing Gauri Ganpati. Oh,
07:58lovely. So we do five days of Gauri Ganpati and then we have a big party on the last day. Right.
08:03Usually with all friends and families, uh, coming together. Right. Sometimes it could be as large
08:08as 200 people. Right. Right. Yes. Yeah. I think you both are on the same page, very simple in your
08:14way, you think, et cetera. But in this whole home, was there one area where you guys had a bit of a
08:18disagreement saying this doesn't work for me, or, you know, and you had to reach a middle ground,
08:24like maybe the snooker table, anything at all, or both of you were on the same page from day one,
08:29all of both of you had the same vision. So I think in architecture, many times we, um, we kind of
08:37overstate our roles as users of the house and we try to indulge so much in the design process.
08:44I feel architect who has spent five, seven years in the college and maybe 20 years of his career,
08:49we try to teach him what is architecture is all about. And we try to interfere in his work. My
08:55own thought is, uh, building, uh, designing a house is a architect's profession. Like the way we have our
09:02own profession and we don't like other people interfering in it. We usually don't interfere.
09:07So Suvarna and me, we are very clear. We give our requirements. We do, we need these many rooms.
09:13We need rooms in this particular area and this is how we want to access the room. But beyond that,
09:18the entire freedom was given to our architect. Lovely. Let them do their jobs. Don't teach a doctor
09:24how to do surgery. Surgery. It is as simple as that. Yeah. What we would do as a user is sometimes
09:29I may reject the design. I would say, but I will never tell him what to do instead of that. That's
09:34I think a great tip for all those people who are building homes. Don't teach them what to do. Just tell
09:39them what you want. And now with social media, Instagram, you look at a figure and then you go to
09:43architect now, you know, pull down this wall. I want a wall like this. I think, I think we do injustice
09:49to their profession by indulging in their creativity. Or interfering with their space.
09:55Yeah. Going into their space and pretending you know better. You know better. When they've actually
09:58studied the art of it. The art of it. The science space. For years. Yeah. As a full-time profession.
10:03Oh, that's such an interesting take. Yeah. So whether building this house or we built a house
10:07previously in Pune, we give full freedom to our architect when it comes to expressing
10:12what we are looking for. Oh, I love that. I love that. I also love the Spanish trees that are here.
10:17Some of them are thousand years old, etc. Right? Yes. How many did you buy for the petrified
10:21Spanish trees? We have these very special five trees we got from Spain. Four of them are about 600
10:27year old and one in the center you see is thousand year old. Thousand year old. Do you both like when you
10:33guys go on a holiday. This is like being on a holiday really. Yes. Is that one of your ethos as well? You
10:38want to actually feel like when you come home it's an oasis of calm. Yes. I think that is that is what
10:45the idea is. Is that when you come home you should feel that you are in the resort or you are in a
10:50place where you are actually winding down. Right. Right. Right. Of course. And with your girlfriends
10:55etc. Do you have a fun corner at all? Yes. You do? Oh, that's amazing. Do you guys have pool parties
11:02outside just chilling out just catching up on some gossip or movie maybe? No. No. No. No. Children
11:07have pool parties not adults. We never had adults. Really? I love how this home also looks like you
11:16know the kids are not around because I don't see much of toys or anything. Is that also one of the
11:21things you just want to keep the pool and all to the kids. Do you guys have designated areas for kids
11:25to go have fun? So one of the design brief was not to intersect private areas with public areas
11:31in this house because we are the luxury of the space. So the way it is designed is family would
11:37never get disturbed if there are visitors in the house. Yes. And you know we don't enter in their
11:43kind of private areas. Lovely. So it is designed in such a manner that though children are there in the
11:48house, they are enjoying their own space and their toys, we don't get to know that part. Right. So that
11:57keeps the space for themselves. Excellent. Excellent. Do your friends come to you and just say that how
12:03did you create something like this in the desert? Does that question come to you quite a bit because
12:07how many bedrooms are we looking at? We have six bedrooms. You have six bedrooms. Four for the family. And how many
12:13living rooms? I think I've been to three already. So there are two family rooms and two living rooms. So
12:19total four areas for the public use. Right. I know this is the most like understated and elegant homes
12:27in the UAE today. But which is the most outlandish part of the home? Everything is everything is on a
12:34same design theme. So there is there is no area where you'll see a flash. So I won't see a nightclub
12:40somewhere. A flashy one suddenly out of nowhere. Where did this come from? No. You guys wanted it.
12:45Also you chose a Pune based architect. Tell me. That is so interesting that you because were you very
12:51particular a slice of India comes into the desert? So in the beginning I went around seeing trying to
12:59shortlist architect locally. I went all the way up to Abu Dhabi. But I did not find that passion in whoever I
13:06met. I did not think that they will really realize the vision of the house we are looking for. And then
13:15I went back to the architect who did our Pune home. And then we got him on board to do this house.
13:21Only thing is we told him that you forget about what you have done in Pune. Yeah. And we want this to
13:27be the complete completely different design compared to our Pune home. Right.
13:31So you will feel some connection with it which is obvious because of because of us or our involvement
13:38in it. But but these are two very distinct architectural styles. Lovely. And last question
13:44which was the most challenging room to design? So I think many times when you have a restricted space
13:52it is another kind of challenge to design the interior or the house. But when you have a lot of space
13:58it creates another challenge as to how do you make sure that the space is filled in properly with
14:04the architecture. So one of the challenging part was probably our master bathroom. Why is that?
14:11Master bathroom his and hers? Yeah. Yeah. So because it was such a large area. Yes. How do you make sure
14:17that it is created as an integrated unit? Lovely. Lovely. And what our architect did was an amazing job.
14:25I'll share some of the photos. I love it. I love it. I never thought that I would get an answer. The
14:30most challenging was the master bathroom and not the bedroom. So the bedrooms are easy to do.
14:35Yes. They were easy to do. Yeah. It's it's of course that's very interesting. Thank you so much for
14:40giving us a tour of a home. I really think you know this is what I think dream homes in Dubai can look
14:46like. Very classy, very understated and very beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for visiting our home. Thank you. It's our
14:52pleasure.
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