W6 – The Penthouse, Banjara Hills

There was a particular kind of home I was looking for when I developed Smritinsha. Not simply a large apartment, and certainly not a collection of expensive finishes, but a home with the things I remembered from well-planned independent houses.
Space. Sunlight. Fresh air. Privacy. Proper working areas. And, importantly, somewhere to put all the things that mysteriously follow us through life.
I never quite found it. So I built it.
W6 is perhaps the closest expression of that idea.

It is a Vaastu-compliant, east-facing penthouse in Banjara Hills with approximately 3,050 sq ft SBA and another 3,050 sq ft of private terrace.
Very little space is sacrificed simply to circulation. The rooms flow naturally into one another, without long corridors eating into the floor plate.
The bedrooms are genuinely spacious, the living areas generous, and the working and service spaces have been given the importance they deserve.
Today one might call it spatial efficiency and an intuitive floorplan. At the time, I simply thought of it as not wasting space.

The apartment is bathed in natural light, with no dearth of fresh air.
Its orientation, openings and planning create excellent natural cross-ventilation, so this is a home that can actually breathe.
Insect meshes mean the windows can remain open and the breeze can be enjoyed rather than merely spoken about in a brochure.
From the terrace, Hyderabad stretches away below you, with Tank Bund and Golconda Fort visible in the distance. You are not simply living in another apartment in Banjara Hills. You are above it.

A skylight brings sunlight directly into the centre of the apartment, giving the home something of the quality of the courtyards in the independent houses we remember so fondly.
Right there sits the elaborate pooja room. I love that the pooja is not tucked apologetically into some available corner.
It occupies the heart of the home, filled with light from above, bringing its own warmth and positive energy into the space.

The entrance is quite the opposite of apologetic. The front door and entrance are opulent, almost larger than life.
A little drama at the front door never hurt anyone.
Beyond it, the drawing area is expansive and flows easily into the living spaces.
Across its width runs a long, genuinely usable balcony. Not the sort on which one precariously balances two flower pots and calls it outdoor living. There is room to sit, read, have a cup of tea and enjoy the breeze and the view.

There are two kitchens and a separate utility area, creating a proper workflow between cooking, preparation, washing and household functions, much as one would expect in a well-planned independent house.
Granite work platforms, cylinder provision, dedicated spaces for the dishwasher and washing machine, RO provision and a clothes-drying arrangement mean the less glamorous parts of running a home were designed into it rather than accommodated afterwards.
The electrical planning follows the same principle, with more than sufficient switches and plug points, together with provision for air-conditioning, fans, geysers and inverter support.
Building services include generator backup, overhead water storage and an underground sump, providing the practical infrastructure a large home needs. Separate servant accommodation and a driver's living quarter add another layer of everyday practicality, with sheltered parking provided within the property.

There is exceptional storage throughout the apartment, including strong stainless-steel rack storage designed to carry real weight, built-in cupboards and storage above six feet for suitcases, luggage and all those things we apparently cannot throw away but don't particularly want to look at every day.
Today one might sell this as maximising usable space. I just wanted the suitcases to disappear.

Modern hard-wearing tiles, warm oak-toned elements and restrained colour coordination give the apartment a calm, contemporary character without making it fussy.
The bathrooms have Jaquar fittings, concealed cisterns and practical modern detailing.
The question was never simply whether something looked impressive when it was new, but whether it would continue to work once somebody actually lived there.
There are plenty of homes designed beautifully for photographs. I wanted one designed beautifully for daily life.

3,050 sq ft of it. Almost as much outdoor space as the apartment itself.
Leave it open and landscaped and it is extraordinary. Or allow it to evolve around the way you live: a home theatre, party room, hobby room, greenhouse, garden, entertaining spaces, quiet corners, perhaps several of them.
There is enough room to have ideas without one idea swallowing the entire terrace.
The balcony is where you might have your morning tea. The terrace is where the imagination can get slightly out of hand.

For all this openness, W6 also has something increasingly difficult to find in the centre of a city: privacy and relative quiet.
Smritinsha sits in the heart of Banjara Hills without being on a through road, giving the home the convenience of its location without making traffic part of the living room.

W6 is being offered unfurnished, which is exactly how I would want someone to see it. You are not being asked to buy my furniture or inherit somebody else's taste.
The difficult things are already there: the proportions, the spatial planning, the sunlight, the cross-ventilation, the privacy, the storage, the two kitchens and utility spaces, the skylight, the pooja room, the balcony, the enormous terrace, the infrastructure and that view.
There are plenty of penthouses that sell luxury through marble and chandeliers. I wanted something rather more difficult to buy.
A home with the spirit, ease and practicality of an independent house, sitting above the city.

A home where the entrance can be almost larger than life, but somebody has still remembered where the dishwasher goes.
Where the suitcases disappear. Where space isn't lost to unnecessary corridors. Where the windows can stay open.
Where sunlight falls from above onto the pooja at the heart of the home. Where the practical workings of a household have their own proper place.
Where you can sit with tea on the balcony and see Hyderabad stretching away from you.
That was the idea behind The Home I Never Found.
W6 is that home. 3,050 sq ft to live in, another 3,050 sq ft to dream with, and the Hyderabad sky above it.