With this house we went little crazy, exploring the teachings of Basic Design. The interplay of forms, space, volumes and planes is the dominating design feature. The feeling of sitting in a cube is unlike eating under 20’ high ceiling, looking up towards sky. We married function with these feelings of different spaces and added the dance of shadows to keep it alive throughout.
This project involves the design of a new custom home on a 70’ X 60’ site in a residential area. Upon entry a wooden cuboid protrudes out marking guest entry to the house, inside is a perfect 14’X14’X14’ cube formal drawing room.The living space is flanked by double height dining area which overlooks the neat garden sweeping inside. The play of volume and the geometryinfluences the spaces forming variations of heights&character.
The tour of the house intertwines interior & exterior. The double height glazed wall brings in greenery, shadows from pergola and the sky.This opens up the whole house. The garden is injected into the core; all private spaces are kept on backside surrounding the living spaces.
PLANNING PROCESS
Step 1Locate activities in 9 Vastu Blocks
Step 2Void the central box to bring the Garden in
Step 3Tinker another box into a perfect Cube
Step 4Open up another box’s roof and wall to create the double height space
Step 5Slice the huge cantilevered pergola into the mass for play of shadows
The cantilevered pergola adds lightness to the mass. It brings in the required dynamism tothe building mass. This is the wing which makes the house fly.It was challenging to swing a 36’x 18’ metal pergola, but our structural engineer Mr Joshi cooperated with our crazy ideas. It’s pinned on back to the main structural frame and hangs on the corner in air. The light passing through the fins creates moving shadow patterns into the house.
This house is our geometrical exploration forthe feel of design. We have incorporated perfect cube, double height huge planes, lifted eyes up to an endless parallel lined ceiling, and added the flight through a winged cantilevered pergola. We even derived the screen through (x+y)2=x2 + y2+2xy equation. It is a little bit imagination stirred with mathematics and the urge to feel different enclosures in same home.
