Every home begins with a conversation. But the best ones begin with a memory — or in this case, two. When a young doctor couple relocated from a bungalow to an apartment in Ranchi, they approached Ankit Berry of APDL with a brief that was less a list and more a longing. They wanted natural light, a contemporary language, and something that neither of them could quite articulate but both deeply felt: the comfort of where they had come from. They named the home Poorna — complete. The name was aspirational. The design made it true.

The challenge was discerning. He had grown up surrounded by tradition; she leaned toward the glamorous and the refined. Two different sensibilities, two different visual memories, one shared home. "The task was to understand which materials made them nostalgic," says Ankit. "Which textures they grew up with. And then to blend those memories into something that felt like both of theirs." The design that followed became, in essence, a constant and loving negotiation — between the hushed and the flamboyant, between cultural rootedness and contemporary ease.

From the very threshold, the balance is legible . An azure blue cabinet set against a textured grey wall, a mandala mural on the entrance door — the home states its intentions early: this will not be a space that chooses sides. Inside, grey became the mediating language: threaded through the entire home as a cool, contemporary constant, while teak arrived at intervals to pull it back toward something warmer and more rooted.

The living area is where the negotiation becomes most visible, and most graceful. A handcrafted fluted Statuario marble wall is flanked by African Valentina veneer panels on either side, while the sofa and chairs are upholstered in a jute blend fabric that lends the space its grounded warmth. White onyx tops the centre tables, and a sleek TV unit with a soft curved corner breaks the overall linear monotony of the room. Indoor plants punctuate the space generously, responding to the clients' desire for life and light in every corner. Civil works were undertaken specifically to ensure natural light reached each room. Fabric glass framed in rose gold serves as a subtle delineation between living and dining, present without imposing. Adjacent sits the Pooja corner, positioned in the northeast per Vastu: two bifold shutters of fluted glass that, when closed, offer only a translucent glimpse of the sacred within. When opened, the space expands into something communal, a gathering place as much as a devotional one.

The dining area carries its own quiet drama. A feature wall enveloped in blush panels, with a curved groove pattern executed on site, anchors one end — a hand-painted artwork of peacock feather motifs and Kamdhenu devoted to Lord Krishna, by local artist Arvind Pandey, completing its surface. Within this wall, a camouflaged door disappears entirely into the composition. Adjacent, an Opaco Matt textured wall bears a ceramic avian installation, also realised on site, its birds in mid-flight — a deliberate symbol, Ankit explains, of free spirit. At the centre of it all: a dining table with a bronze metallic base and a Turkish green onyx top, paired with chairs bearing a diamond quilted backrest. It is a room that rewards attention.

An open kitchen with the desired privacy opens as a parallel-layout space alongside a breakfast counter — "designed for cosy family moments," as Ankit puts it — with contrasting acrylic shades and a full-body tile backsplash. The master bedroom retreats into stillness: white and grey in pristine coalition, golden highlights, wooden flooring, an enlarged balcony opening to draw in more of the Ranchi light. A room that asks only to be rested in. The boys' room honours both sons' inclination toward blue — colour-blocked with ivory, anchored by a shared study zone. The energy is different — younger, more alive — but the same underlying care is present in every decision. And then there is the grandparents’ bedroom — reached, charmingly, through a concealed door off the dining area — dressed in a floral Nilaya wallpaper, a Chesterfield bed, a rocking chair positioned by the balcony for moments of unhurried pause. It is a room that knows exactly who it is for.

One detail, quietly ingenious, runs through the entire home: the existing AC grilles, rather than disrupting the material language, were absorbed into it — teak wood battens carved with slits so the grilles vanish entirely within the grain. "The challenge," Ankit reflects, "was ensuring similar tones of furniture and panels so everything blends seamlessly." In Poorna, nothing competes, and everything simply belongs.

Fact Files

Project Name: Poorna
Project Area- 2000 sqft
Completion Year: March 2026
Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Design Firm: apdl
Principal Architect: Ar.Ankit Berry, Ar.Vivek Berry
Design Team: Ar.Zenab Hussain, Ashmi Priya Topno
Photographer: Sudhir Parmar
Text By: Mehar Deep Kaur