As night flights from the Middle East arc steeply around, lining up for descent into Delhi, passengers get a perfect bird's-eye view of Mexx Farm. The symmetrical quadrangle of brick buildings is set around an emerald green lawn and an alluring azure swimming pool. In the morning sunlight it is an oasis of green in countryside that is otherwise parched. The view from the entrance gates on the edge of the Mexx Farm estate in South Delhi is one of beautiful landscaped park land, stands of trees and meticulously manicured lawns. From the air you cannot appreciate that the quadrangle of buildings is actually sunk into the ground. This was a project of epic proportions, whereby the land had to be excavated to accommodate a three-storey building, much of it below ground level. The house is understated, sympathetic to the topography and natural character of the land in which it sits. The ideas for this project, both architecture and interior decoration and design, were the result of a father-and-daughter dream team. The architect is Satish Gujral, a prodigiously multi-talented artist, sculptor and architect, considered a living treasure in India. The interiors are by his daughter, Raseel Gujral Ansal, one of India's most sought-after interior decorators and furniture designers. Satish Gujral in his avatar as an architect is more of a visionary than a technocrat, his artistic life informed by his formative years spent in the fiery milieu of the Mexican art scene in the 1940s and 1950s (think of such contemporary luminaries of his as Frida Kahlo. While the look of this house is contemporary, its construction and layout are deliberately more traditional. Rather than concrete and plate glass, there is brick, used for thousands of years in India and a material sympathetic to the country's climate. The main premise behind the building was also traditional: inward looking, it's a private family home with its focal point an internal courtyard that is also the main light source for the rooms around it. With its arches and domes, the architectural language draws on both Muslim and Hindu heritage. Gujral has employed age-old and proven methods, using the earth itself to shield the house from the extreme local conditions and minimise the energy required to keep a large home comfortable, cool and shaded. Raseel Gujral Ansal relishes opulence that is understated and sophisticated, rather than vulgar and ostentatious. "I see the finish I have created for Mexx Farm as wearing an exquisite pair of diamond earrings rather than the whole crystal chandelier." As Mexx Farms shows, Gujral Ansal speaks two stylistic languages fluently: that of the West and her own 3,000-year-old tradition. It's a fine balance to make each complement the other with élan. Both the architecture and interior design of the house had to take into account the Indian tradition of the extended family; the parents and their married children and their families live together but with the option of privacy. Thus, Gujral Ansal produced a collection of modules in a cohesive style, set around the sunken garden. These modules are essentially detached and include the main family apartments for the parents and a module for their offspring's family, which also includes a chill-out zone with a bar and dance floor for their son, his wife and their young friends. A further module is set aside for guests and, a final one includes the swimming pool, spa and recreation area. Gujral Ansal is a passionate believer that culturally rich countries like India can spawn stylistic amalgams that are truly evolutionary. "I am confident that India is in the midst of an aesthetic evolution - more, a design revolution."