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A Palace Reimagined: Inside Gazal Gupta’s New Delhi Flagship by Renesa Studio
- Style Essentials Edit Team
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
At The Dhan Mill in New Delhi, the new Gazal Gupta flagship opens like a quiet revelation. The entrance, flanked by two whimsical dog sculptures, sets the tone for a space that doesn’t announce itself loudly but settles around you with the calm assurance of a place shaped by intention. Once inside, the soaring vaults, lime-washed surfaces, and monochrome marble floors establish an atmosphere that feels part palace, part contemporary atelier—rooted in memory yet distinctly modern in its expression.
Sanchit Arora of Renesa Architecture Design Interiors Studio steers clear of theatrical imitation and instead builds a language of restraint. Arches appear as clean, elongated curves rather than ornamental motifs. Vaults guide movement with a steady rhythm. Proportions take precedence over decoration, allowing architecture to hold the emotional weight of the space. The result is a store that feels less like a backdrop and more like a world carefully tuned to the cadence of couture.
Materials do the storytelling quietly. The lime plaster softens every edge, giving light a diffused, almost atmospheric quality. Marble flooring brings crisp geometry into the mix, anchoring each room with a sense of permanence. Antique consoles and handpicked carpets introduce warmth without tipping the balance toward nostalgia. What truly shifts the experience is the interplay of reflection—mirrors placed with purpose, metallic finishes catching the chandelier’s glow, and sightlines that open and contract like chapters in a narrative.
The ceiling, however, captures the imagination in a way that isn’t immediate but lingers. Renesa developed a gilded leopard pattern that drifts across the vaults—subtle, elusive, and revealed only as one moves through the rooms. It avoids spectacle; instead, it offers discovery. Achieving that quiet drama required technical precision in leafing, layering, lighting, and structural concealment so the pattern feels part of the architecture rather than applied onto it.
What defines the store most is its sense of movement. There is no abrupt zoning. Instead, the rooms flow with shifts in light, height, and material, allowing each collection to inhabit its own mood without fragmenting the overall experience. Architecture becomes a guide that doesn’t interrupt but gently directs—opening a view here, tightening the scale there, and always keeping the garments at the centre of the composition. It’s a spatial rhythm more reminiscent of a museum path than a retail layout.
Craftsmanship underpins the experience at every turn. The walls were burnished by hand until they reached a velvety matte finish. Brass elements were aged to feel lived rather than polished. Carpets absorb sound, allowing conversations to skim softly across the rooms. Even the display rails and furniture pieces have been tuned to feel like extensions of the architecture rather than additions to it. There is no single element that demands attention; instead, the space earns its beauty through cohesion.
This flagship stands out because it rejects the idea that retail must be loud or theatrical. It trusts quietness. It trusts material integrity. It trusts architectural clarity more than ornament. In doing so, it offers a kind of luxury that feels innately Indian yet globally relevant—a language where craft and modernity coexist without strain. The store does not overwhelm; it lingers. It doesn’t perform; it invites. And long after stepping outside, its atmosphere stays with you, not for its grandeur, but for the way it made space for breath, for movement, for couture, and for memory.
Fact File:
Project: Gazal Gupta Flagship Store
Location: The Dhan Mill, Chattarpur, New Delhi
Area: 7,500 sq ft
Architecture & Interior Design: Renesa Architecture Design Interiors Studio
Principal Architect: Sanchit Arora
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