PROJECT DOSSIER — SHEET L

LONAVALA WEEKEND RETREAT

Lonavala, Pune — 2022

Farmhouse lawn edge dissolving into wild Sahyadri hillside near lonavala

The Walkthrough

A monsoon-country retreat near lonavala lake where the landscape does the least possible — protecting the existing hillside and letting the Sahyadris remain the design.

THE SITE

A hillside above lonavala lake, already beautiful. The most important drawings for this project were the ones showing what we would not touch — the rock outcrops, the seasonal stream, the grassland that turns gold after the rains.

Laterite path leading from the farmhouse toward the lake viewpoint — Laterite underfoot — quarried within thirty kilometres

PATH PLAN — MINIMAL CUT

THE MOVE

We drew a tight domestic zone around the house — a modest lawn, a fire court, a kitchen garden — and left the remaining acre to the hillside, managed rather than designed. The seasonal stream got a small crossing, not a culvert. In the monsoon, the property's best feature is everything we left alone.

MORE LANDSCAPE WORK

Layered native garden with stone path winding through young trees at the Baner residence

BANER RESIDENTIAL SOCIETY LANDSCAPE

Baner, Pune — 2022

RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPES

A layered native-species garden that returned birdsong to a bare plot — designed as a small forest, not a lawn.

Terraced hillside garden with dry-stone retaining walls stepping down the slope

PANDHARPUR BUNGLOW LANDSCAPING

Pandharpur, Pune — 2023

RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPES

Terraced gardens that follow the hill's own contours — every existing tree kept, every retaining wall dry-stacked from stone found on site.

Rooftop terrace garden with pergola, planters and city skyline beyond

PUNE TERRACE GARDEN

Pune, Pune — 2024

TERRACE LANDSCAPES

A twelfth-floor terrace turned into a monsoon-proof garden room — lightweight, wind-wise and alive through every season.