In the hills of Karjat, Maharashtra, actor Akshay Oberoi and his wife Jyothi Vynatheya are doing something quietly radical with their second home: they are refusing to finish it. Twice a month, the family arrives and adds another layer — a book, a Lego sculpture built with their son, a memory pressed into the walls — allowing the space to grow the way a life does, through accumulation rather than declaration. Working with architect Nishita Kamdar, they have built not a destination but a practice, one rooted in nature, slowness, and the belief that a home earns its meaning over time.
Akshay Oberoi's Karjat retreat evolves as a personal sanctuary with nature at its heart
A home intentionally unfinished in the best possible way
Mark
So this isn't a typical second home project—it's deliberately incomplete?
Mimi
Exactly. They visit twice a month and let it evolve naturally. Books, vinyl records, Lego sculptures the son makes—these become part of the décor over time.
Luke
But how much of this is actually built versus planned? The rainwater harvesting, the fruit trees, the bench by the stream—are those done or still ideas?
Mimi
The article says the home is "coming together" and "gradually being filled." The sustainable systems and plantings appear to be in the planning stages.
Mark
Why does that matter to the story?
Luke
Because there's a difference between a vision and what's actually on the ground. We're reading about intention, which is real, but we should know what's concrete versus what's aspirational.
Mimi
Fair point. But the intentionality itself is the story—that they're choosing to build this way rather than hiring someone to finish it all at once.
Mark
And the designer, Nishita Kamdar, is providing the framework?
Mimi
Yes. She's shaped the interiors, but the family is filling in the meaning through their own objects and memories.
Luke
So the designer's role is almost invisible in the final product?
Mimi
Not invisible—foundational. She created the structure that allows the family's life to become the decoration.
Mark
What about the sustainability angle? Is that central to who Oberoi is, or is it just part of this particular project?
Luke
The article says he's an avid gardener, so it seems genuine to his interests. But we don't know if he's been public about environmental concerns before this.
Mimi
It reads as organic to the place—you have land, you have a stream, you think about how to live lightly on it.
El Pulso
- In a culture where second homes are often designed to signal arrival, the Oberois have chosen incompleteness as their guiding principle — a quiet act of resistance against the finished and the fixed.
- The tension between Mumbai's relentless pace and Karjat's sleepy, expansive landscape is precisely the point: the retreat exists to make time move differently, and every design choice serves that intention.
- Personal objects — vinyl records, puzzles, Lego sculptures built father-and-son — are doing the work that expensive furnishings usually do, turning square footage into something that actually holds a family's life.
- Bare walls wait patiently for Indian artwork, unplanted soil waits for mango and jackfruit trees, and an unbuilt bench waits beside a stream — the home's future is already being imagined in unhurried detail.
- Rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation, and productive planting signal that the family's ambitions extend beyond the walls, folding sustainability into the very ground the retreat stands on.
In the hills of Karjat, Maharashtra, actor Akshay Oberoi and his wife Jyothi Vynatheya are doing something quietly radical with their second home: they are refusing to finish it. Twice a month, the family arrives and adds another layer — a book, a Lego sculpture built with their son, a memory pressed into the walls — allowing the space to grow the way a life does, through accumulation rather than declaration. Working with architect Nishita Kamdar, they have built not a destination but a practice, one rooted in nature, slowness, and the belief that a home earns its meaning over time.
Akshay Oberoi and his wife Jyothi Vynatheya have built a second home in Karjat, Maharashtra, on an unusual premise: it is not finished, and it is not meant to be. The family visits roughly twice a month, and each trip adds something new — a book, a puzzle, a Lego sculpture made with their son Aviyaan. Working with interior designer and architect Nishita Kamdar, they have created a framework for living rather than a completed design statement.
The property is deliberately positioned within Karjat's lush landscape so that nature remains central rather than decorative. An open courtyard dissolves the boundary between inside and out, and the surrounding views — quiet, expansive, the opposite of Mumbai — are the experience the family has come for. The intention is not a formal holiday home but a place where time slows, and where the gradual accumulation of personal objects becomes the substance of the space itself.
The interiors reflect what the Oberois actually love. Shelves hold Akshay's vinyl collection alongside books and puzzles. The Lego sculptures he has built with Aviyaan serve as both memory and decoration. The walls remain largely bare for now, with plans to fill them slowly with work by Indian artists. Nothing is rushed or imposed from outside — the home is being allowed to develop personality the way a person does, through time and choice.
Beyond the walls, Oberoi envisions the land becoming genuinely productive. Rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation will manage water sustainably, while mango and jackfruit trees will root the family deeper into the rhythms of the seasons. He has imagined a bench beside a stream running through the property — a place to sit, listen, and simply be present.
What sets this retreat apart is its refusal to be fixed. Where most second homes are designed and then inhabited as finished objects, the Karjat property continues to change with every visit. Nature provides the constant; the family's accumulating memories and choices provide everything else. The result is a home shaped not by a designer's imposed vision but by the slow, organic process of a family building a space around what matters to them.
Akshay Oberoi and his wife Jyothi Vynatheya have built a second home in Karjat, Maharashtra, that operates on a principle most people abandon the moment they buy property: they are letting it remain unfinished. The actor and his family visit roughly twice a month, and with each trip, the retreat accumulates another layer—a book, a puzzle, a Lego sculpture made with their son Aviyaan, a piece of art on the wall. Working with interior designer and architect Nishita Kamdar, they have created a framework for living rather than a completed design statement.
The property sits within the lush landscape of Karjat, deliberately positioned to keep the natural world at the center of the experience rather than at its margins. An open courtyard dissolves the boundary between indoors and out. The views across the surrounding terrain are what Oberoi describes as sleepy—quiet, expansive, the opposite of Mumbai's relentless pace. The family's intention, according to Architectural Digest, is not to build a formal holiday home but a place where they can slow down together, where time moves differently, where the accumulation of personal objects and memories becomes the actual substance of the space.
The interiors are being shaped by what the Oberoi family actually does and loves. Shelves hold Akshay's vinyl collection alongside puzzles and books. The Lego sculptures—creations he has built with Aviyaan—function as both family time and decoration, objects that carry the weight of hours spent together. The walls remain largely bare for now, but the plan is to gradually fill them with work by Indian artists, bringing homegrown creativity into the retreat. Nothing is rushed. Nothing is imposed from outside. The home is being allowed to acquire personality the way a person does, through experience and choice and time.
Beyond the walls, Oberoi has larger ambitions for the land itself. He is an avid gardener, and he envisions the property becoming genuinely productive. Rainwater harvesting systems and drip irrigation will be installed to manage water sustainably. Mango and jackfruit trees will be planted, transforming the surrounding terrain into something that feeds the family and deepens their connection to the seasons. He has imagined a small bench positioned beside a stream that runs through the property—a place to sit and listen to water move, to think, to simply be present.
What distinguishes this retreat is its refusal to be finished. Most second homes are designed, built, furnished, and then inhabited as fixed objects. The Oberoi family's Karjat property is instead a living project, something that will continue to change and deepen as long as they visit it. Each trip adds another chapter. The open courtyard and the green views provide the constant—nature as a permanent presence—while the family's own accumulation of objects, memories, and ideas provides the variable. The result is a home that belongs entirely to the people who live in it, shaped not by a designer's vision imposed from above but by the slow, organic process of a family deciding what matters and building a space around it.
Citas Notables
It would be nice to build a little bench to sit by the stream too— Akshay Oberoi, describing his vision for the property
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