18 Screens

Located in Lucknow City, India this house by Sanjay Puri architects employs traditional Indian courtyard typology along with a series of patterned screens in response to the local climate - where lengthy summer months are often in excess of 35° C.

The program of this 6-bedroom house is interspersed with sheltered terraces and landscape gardens around a 2 storey, naturally ventilated courtyard. Large glass windows on the northern side allow indirect light to infuse the internal spaces of the house. The patterned screens allude to traditional Indian architecture and the famous Lucknow ‘chikan’ embroidery sheath outdoor seating areas for each room on the south, west and east sides. These screens provide shelter from the sun, create different light patterns throughout the day and mitigate traffic noise from a nearby busy arterial road.

The varying volumetric proportions and differing sectional spaces create an individual identity for each different living space with the courtyard cohesively integrating the design into a whole.

The material palette of the house is simple. Built almost entirely in raw concrete, it features sandstone and wood with muted colors. Vivid Indian art and landscape are brought together in different compositions in each of the internal volumes.

A large garden on the north penetrating up to the internal courtyard between rooms has partial shadows at most times of the day allowing it to be used in the extensive summers too.

The result is a design that is simultaneously contextual to its location, climate, tradition and culture.