Future → Built Creatively
“Pratibimba Stay” is a project by Keerthana V, Diploma in Interior Design May 2025 batch at JD Institute. Inspired by the traditional Rajasthani craft of mirror and glass inlay, the project explores the theme of light, reflection, and sensory minimalism. It aims to create a boutique Airbnb retreat that offers a calm and immersive escape from urban life, while responding to the growing need for experiential hospitality spaces focused on emotional well-being and relaxation.
The project is designed for modern travellers and short-stay guests seeking comfort, tranquility, and meaningful spatial experiences, keeping their sensory and emotional needs at the core of the design process. The design approach focuses on material honesty, spatial zoning, passive climate responsiveness, and immersive lighting, ensuring that the environment is both functional and emotionally engaging. Through research into reflective craft traditions, natural materials, and climate-responsive design, the project identifies the need for hospitality spaces that use light and texture to shape atmosphere rather than relying solely on luxury amenities.Materials such as lime plaster, sandstone, Kota stone, terracotta, tinted glass, and mirror inlays,
along with techniques involving filtered lighting, reflective layering, and passive ventilation strategies, were chosen to achieve thermal comfort, visual softness, and sensory depth. Visually, the project is defined by earthy textures, soft ambient glows, subtle reflective surfaces, and minimal spatial compositions, reflecting the balance between grounded materiality and light-based experience.The final outcome, a boutique Airbnb retreat, embodies calmness, intimacy, and immersive relaxation while seeking to transform short-term stays into memorable sensory experiences. Through this project, the designer aims to highlight how traditional crafts can be reinterpreted into functional and experiential design elements, positioning design as a tool for emotional connection, sustainability, and well-being. Ultimately, “Pratibimba Stay” stands as a reflection of serenity and transformation, where light, material, and reflection come together to create a restorative living experience.