Modern plantation house near Mumbai, India, with wraparound infinity pool a home of two halves, and the realisation of a 10-year dream
- An Indian-born Canadian businessman knew Alibag, India, was the right place for his getaway house – he just needed Architecture BRIO to make it happen
- The result is The Ray, a five-bedroom home made up of an open, airy and modern pavilion and another reminiscent of an old ruin, and with a poolside lounge
Before finding the 1.8-hectare (4.4-acre) patch of land on which his idyllic getaway house now stands, Indian-born Canadian businessman Ty Bhojwani had already visited scores of plots. Many had been in the beachside town of Alibag, near Mumbai, on India’s west coast.
“I’d seen 100; why not 101?” he jokes, recounting the day, in 2012, when he knew the search was over. Little did the founder of a global knitwear company realise the story had only just begun.
First came the prologue: a boat trip from the Gateway of India, in Mumbai; a drive from the jetty along a coastal road, through villages, past paddy fields; and, moments later, a vision – stupendous vistas that took in sea, hills and verdant valleys.
“I could have been standing in the south of France, or Bali, or Ibiza – it was so breathtaking,” he says.
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Guided entirely by emotions, Bhojwani – who lives part of the year in Hong Kong – acknowledges that he could have been more pragmatic.
“So, of course, there was no water. There was no electricity,” he says. “And within six months of me buying, there was no road.”
It gives the house so much more dimension
As the saying goes, however, nothing worthwhile is ever easy, which explains why, when building finally started on the house in 2017, the original time frame of 18 months soon became four years.
The Ray, as the five-bedroom house is called, was named after the manta rays that once sliced through the Arabian Sea which laps Alibag. A pair of two-storey pavilions make up the home, one as light and lofty as the other is massive and monumental.
Counter-intuitively, neither maximises sea views, instead offering a plethora of vistas, including that of a central courtyard punctuated by boulders in a sea of gravel.
“It gives the house so much more dimension,” says Bhojwani, echoing the arguments of Robert Verrijt and Shefali Balwani, co-founders of Mumbai- and Rotterdam-based Architecture BRIO.
Theirs was a site-sensitive response to their clients’ brief, which had called for a modern plantation house in the style of the grand mansions found in Barbados and the Bahamas.
While the white pavilion features many plantation elements – shuttered expanses and high ceilings to encourage air flow – the architects made sure the building, accommodating living spaces, didn’t feel “alien” in its environment, as Verrijt puts it.
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By using the essence of plantation style, he explains, and interrogating the reasons for its verandas, sloping roofs, and the like, “you can interpret these elements into something that becomes contextual, for a place like Alibag”.
Landscaping helped. To ensure the house was one with its lush surroundings, Bhojwani enlisted landscape architect Kunal Maniar, who worked with Architecture BRIO to make the most of the sheer, undulating site.
“What we did also with [Maniar] was to create a very dense sort of screen to create a sense of anticipation on arrival,” says Verrijt.
The sequence is as follows: alight on a bed of crushed stone and follow the path to a cave-like lobby with a manta-ray floor mosaic; descend the spiral staircase into a bright, airy expanse bordered by steel-framed windows on three sides.
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Feel the temperature drop at the sight of the infinity pool and green paddy fields beyond; embrace the bay in the distance.
From the double-height living room, the stone house, which contains the bedrooms, can be reached in different ways, although Bhojwani says he uses the “secret” passage at the rear.
His and wife Esha’s room on the upper level is also directly connected to a dramatic outdoor staircase recalling stepped pyramids. Around the two top-floor bedrooms, gardens lower the mercury in the rooms beneath.
Cooler still – metaphorically as well – is the wraparound infinity pool and, beside it, a louvred, undercover outdoor lounge that continues from the living room. The water’s enticing hues owe much to Esha, who prompted the search for hand-fired turquoise blue tiles.
Black-bottom or cement pools are popular these days, says Bhojwani. “But she said, ‘Absolutely not. They’re the most unwelcoming things.’”
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Equally inviting outdoors and inside, the furniture and furnishings were designed bespoke, selected from extant collections, or sourced, mostly from Indonesia, by Timothy Oulton Studio.
“Being from the fashion industry, I was very clear that I wanted washed linens, and I wanted something very comfy,” says Bhojwani about their sofa. “I wanted something I could just fall into and be cocooned in.”
But more remarkable than any bespoke piece of furniture are the naturally occurring basalt boulders at the property. Several were kept as unique features while others, carved by Rajasthani artisans, make unusual bathroom basins.
“They’re stunning,” Bhojwani says, belying the desensitisation he claims sometimes to feel about The Ray because “it’s been a long road”.
“But then,” he adds, “there are moments when I’m sitting by the pool and it’s almost surreal because, you know, I visualised this a decade ago.”
Pool and outdoor area
The undercover outdoor lounge beside the infinity pool was furnished by Timothy Oulton Studio (timothyoultonstudio.com), with a centrepiece large bespoke greenstone dining table created from four individual stones.
The teak sunbeds were also from Timothy Oulton Studio, although Ty Bhojwani helped source from Bali, with the help of Timothy Oulton designer Bastien Taillard, the hanging rattan chairs, rattan lamp shade and dining chairs.
Living room
A spiral staircase connects the entrance vestibule and the light-filled, double-height living room, which, as with the rest of the house, was furnished by Timothy Oulton Studio. Behind the Timothy Oulton sofa are three antique Rai stone coins, sourced in Bali.
The long bespoke coffee table was made with reclaimed wood and the round end table features a burnt finish on the trembesi (monkey pod tree) wood. Hand-blown glass pendants from the Timothy Oulton Noble Souls collection illuminate the space at night.
Living room detail
A spiral staircase with a zigzag soffit connects the foyer to the living room, at the rear of which is a dining area. The hand-carved totems, each about three metres tall, were strategically positioned to welcome and to guard. They were sourced in Bali by Timothy Oulton Studio.
Distant view
The Ray consists of two pavilions, one inspired by plantation houses, the other evoking an old ruin.
The Ray
Living areas in The Ray, designed by Architecture BRIO (architecturebrio.com), are in the light and breezy pavilion, while bedrooms are housed in its heavy stone counterpart. Kunal Maniar & Associates (instagram.com/kunalmaniarassociates) landscaped the undulating plot.
Passage
The “secret” passage between the pavilions features exposed basalt found on the site, burnt clay bricks on the ceiling, limestone walls and a concrete floor.
Entrance vestibule
Timothy Oulton Studio conceived and designed the manta ray mosaic, which was created with calcite and black honed Chinese marble. Also from Timothy Oulton Studio are the calcite pendants and bespoke bench made from the reclaimed root of a trembesi tree.
Main en suite
A basalt boulder excavated from the site forms a natural step at the entrance to the main en suite bathroom. Adding to the textures are a pebbled floor and limestone walls. A trembesi wood side table sits beside the stand-alone bath.
Guest bathroom
The custom-made counter, mirror and lamp in the guest bathroom were all supplied by Timothy Oulton Studio; the basin was carved from basalt found during site excavation; the tap is by Jaquar (jaquar.com).
Main bedroom
At one end of the stone house, the main bedroom enjoys views of the coast and of Mumbai in the distance. Although appearing to presage a steep drop, the opening is actually connected to a huge external staircase to gardens below.
The chair was from Indonesia’s Balagi & Dilmoni (balagi-dilmoni.com). Beside it is a side table made of trembesi wood with a burnt finish. As with the other rooms, Timothy Oulton Studio supplied or selected the furniture.
