The Grand Tour: Inside Muzaffar and Meera Ali's House of Kotwara

Tucked discreetly off the Gurugram Faridabad highway, down a tree-lined street aptly named Rumi Lane, stands the House of Kotwara, a private estate spanning 2.75 acres that feels worlds away from its urban context. Designed and inhabited by filmmaker and artist Muzaffar Ali and his wife, Meera Ali, an architect, designer and author, the home is less a statement and more a meditative gesture: a place where architecture, craft, art and memory flow into one another with deliberate ease. “We didn’t want the house to rise up like an imposing structure,” says Meera. “The idea was for it to sit quietly in the landscape—something humble and in sync with nature.” The driveway stops short of the front door. A walking path, flanked by trees, leads visitors slowly toward the home. “You don’t see the house until you’re standing in front of it,” she adds. “It’s not about grand entrances; it’s about how a space reveals itself.”

A Sense of Belonging

The location was love at first sight, says Meera. “When we first saw this land, it felt untouched, flanked by a 200-acre forest on one side and a sleepy village on the other,” she recalls. “There were gentle hillocks and old palm trees. We knew immediately it was the right place to build.” Rather than flattening or reshaping the terrain, the couple preserved its natural contours. “We landscaped around the hillocks, kept the natural vegetation, and even used the boulders we excavated to enhance a feeling of wilderness,” says Meera. “It’s a bit like the follies in English gardens.” Flowering trees like laburnum, jacaranda, and magnolia were chosen to bloom across different seasons, so the colours shift throughout the year. “We wanted time itself to be visible here,” adds Muzaffar.

Design in Motion

The house is organised around a central courtyard with a water fountain used not just for aesthetics but also as an energy regulator and visual anchor. “We made sure most of the rooms open out to this courtyard,” says Meera. “The play of light on the water, the reflections through the glass—it all creates a continuous connection with the outdoors. The courtyard cools the air and calms the energy of the space.” Her husband sees it through a different, more cinematic lens. “To me, it’s about movement—how a space transforms as you walk through it,” Muzaffar explains. “It’s not just what it looks like but also how it behaves.” Nowhere is this more evident than in the painting that wraps around the dual-sided fireplace. “I couldn’t resolve the design,” Meera admits. “But Muzaffar knew exactly what to do. He built the painting around it—something dynamic that evolves over time. Every time we return from a trip, he adds a new detail. It keeps changing.”

Space as Canvas

The house is filled with Muzaffar’s work—paintings that are not merely displayed but deeply integrated. “These aren’t static objects,” he says. “They’re in conversation with the space, and with us. Some are inspired by ghazals, some by horses and some by dreams.” There are a series of paintings on Rumi which Muzaffar painted while planning a biopic on the poet. Pointing to a painting in the living room, he explains, “This is the meeting of Rumi and Shams, and how that moment transformed Rumi’s life. And this is the horse—the keeper of the secret of what transpired between the two.” Art and memory are fused even in the materials. Years ago, while filming in Dujana, the couple came across a 200-year-old haveli being dismantled. “I offered to buy the doors and stone pillars,” says Meera. “We had no plan for them at the time, so we just left them in the garden. But when we started designing this house, it all came together.” The massive carved door from that haveli now anchors the courtyard entrance. Stone pillars line walkways. “It’s a contemporary home,” she notes, “but these elements bring context—not nostalgia, but continuity.”

Beyond the Showroom

With four bedrooms, a formal lounge, dining area, Muzaffar’s painting studio and a fashion atelier for their label, House of Kotwara, the home supports multiple modes of living and working. The atelier, in particular, reflects a deliberate departure from retail convention. “We wanted clients to engage with us in an environment that wasn’t overrun by commercial energy,” explains Meera. “Walking through the garden, through a quiet, intentional space, shifts their mindset. They come in ready to absorb the brand and the craftsmanship.” The property also features Maashra, a private, tented dining space, that began as a personal retreat but has evolved into a curated experience where guests are invited for slow-cooked Lucknowi meals. “It’s just a fabric between you and the sky,” says Meera. “It’s the closest you can get to nature without leaving the city.”

Designed to Evolve

The Ali home is not static. It adapts. Paintings are rotated, furniture is reconfigured, and new objects are introduced as the family travels or the work evolves. “It’s not a curated show home,” says Meera. “It’s a working, living space.” That adaptability stems from intentional design— not just aesthetics, but function. “We’ve built something that allows us to host, create, reflect and reset,” says Muzaffar. “And that kind of flexibility is rare.” However, Meera’s architectural philosophy goes beyond materials and proportion. “The energy of a home depends on two things: the people who live in it, and the people who visit,” she says. “As an architect, you’re not just designing walls and floors. You’re setting the mood. You’re managing how people feel when they enter.” For her, that’s the true distinction between a house and a home. “A house can be beautiful but sterile. A home has layers. It holds your books, your art, your memories. You live with them and they shape you in return.”

A Living Legacy

The House of Kotwara is not about trend or spectacle. It is a quiet, self-contained world where legacy is gently layered into daily life. “What began as a home,” Meera reflects, “has grown into something we now share with clients, collaborators and friends. It’s a place where everything we care about—art, design, nature, memory—can exist together.” Muzaffar puts it more simply: “It’s an island of imagination.”