SAANJH
CLIENT
Geetanjali Salon
TYPOLOGY
Salon & Wellness Design
PROJECT AREA
6027 sq.ft./ 560 sq.m
LOCATION
Sindhu Bhawan, Ahemdabad, India
BRIEF
Spaces possess a sentience of their own, revealed not in spectacle but in steady restraint. In a sea of colour that appears all-encompassing, one might anticipate pomp. Yet at Geetanjali Salon’s newest outpost in Ahmedabad, that assumption quickly dissolves. Shaped by the hands and minds at Metanoia Designs LLP, the space has a singular ask ofits patrons — to leave every notion of convention at the doorstep. This ethos finds clear expression in client Sumit Israni’s creative brief to principal architects Shivangi Sharma and Prakhar Jain.
Dwelling on Ahmedabad’s high street, Sindhu Bhavan Marg, the site rewrites the idea of a coveted address. The blueprint finds a home amid a promenade of ambition, where businesses line up to offer the city a considered, design-aware experience. The project’s name, Saanjh (twilight in Hindi), emerges from the space’s tryst with colour and its abilityto conjure a world of its own within these walls — a time held between light and darkness that carries one into an otherworldly realm. During this fleeting hour, the sun hands the sky over to the moon and the world is washed in a soft radiance, neither fully illuminated nor cast in shadow.
Words: Lavanya Chopra
Images shot by: Avesh Gaur
This project builds on the studio’s ongoing engagement with Gujarat, guided by a philosophy that blurs the boundaries between architecture and interiors. For the designers, the space is not a container but an experience—one that begins at arrival and lingers long after. With a client willing to challenge industry norms, the brief moved beyond precedent. The salon was envisioned not as a service-driven environment but as a ritualistic setting, where grooming transforms into performance and everyday acts acquire a sense of ceremony.
Spread across two levels, the design unfolds through a careful orchestration of materiality and movement. The reception introduces this language with red Agra sandstone flooring, sculptural elements, and subdued signage that foregrounds material honesty. A luminous stretched ceiling diffuses light across the space, recurring as a unifying element throughout. The central styling zone acts as the salon’s pulse—an unobstructed axis where stylists perform under halo-like lighting, their craft elevated against the dramatic backdrop. Peripheral zones, including the colouring gallery and barber stations, extend this narrative while maintaining functional clarity.
A quieter, more intimate layer emerges in the men’s grooming wing, where a custom-developed stone-crete jaali screen mediates privacy and light. Crafted by blending sandstone dust with micro-concrete, the lattice evokes traditional craftsmanship while introducing material innovation. Beyond, treatment rooms offer tactile richness through leather-finished granite and warm tonal finishes. At the heart of the plan, a sculptural white staircase cuts through the terracotta field—its fluid, ribbon-like form contrasting the solidity of stone, acting as both circulation and installation.
The upper level shifts the experience toward intimacy, accommodating longer, more personal rituals such as bridal preparations and family visits. Here, the pace slows, and spatial planning prioritizes comfort and privacy. With Saanjh, the designers revisit Indian materiality through a contemporary lens, demonstrating its enduring relevance. The project ultimately reframes the wellness typology—not as a utilitarian space but as an emotive, immersive environment where architecture, memory, and material converge to elevate the everyday into something deeply resonant.
