The Sanctum House / RENESA Architecture Design Interiors Studio

The Sanctum in Amritsar, designed by Renesa Architecture Design Interiors Studio, stands as a rare architectural experiment in India, an attempt to reinvent the domestic typology through geometry, material, and spatial narrative. Spread over 12,000 sq ft on a generous three-acre plot, the house positions itself as a contemporary meditation on permanence and introspection, moving away from the predictable box-like houses or ostentatious palatial villas often seen in the country. Instead, it locates itself within a modernist lineage yet interprets it through the lens of Indian climatic, cultural, and emotional realities. At its heart lies a vast circular courtyard, not merely as an ornamental gesture but as the generative void around which the entire home pivots. The circle is carved out with great precision, forming an inward-looking sanctum that recalls the ritualistic and spiritual role of courtyards in traditional Indian homes, yet here it is stripped of nostalgia and reimagined as a modern sculptural landscape, with water bodies, planters, and shaded peripheries interweaving to produce a space that is contemplative, communal, and ever-changing with the light.