Building a large house on a sea-facing hillside in Mumbai is both exciting and daunting. On one hand, the prospect of a panoramic ocean view is thrilling. On the other hand, it undoubtedly adds to the growing clutter of self-important villas in these, which not so long ago were uninhabited, natural, landscapes.
Rather than fighting its presence, however, the plantation retreat in Alibag emphasizes on the profile of the built from. It is not much unlike the Portuguese chapels scattered around the rolling hills of nearby coastal Goa. These chapels in their pure white brilliance do not shy away from their existence with their characteristic axial orientation and dominant silhouette. Similarly, this retreat attempts to lend a comfortable scale to its surrounding landscape.
The Plantation Retreat began as defined by a combination of ideas: the idea of the plantation house on the hillside overlooking the Mumbai bay: a lightweight columned structure with a dominating roof profile placed strategically on the land. A comfortable deep recessed verandah house from which the landscape could be experienced.
Exploring the qualities of the villas built in the rolling hills of Veneto during the 16th and 17th centuries, breaking away from the citadel, fortress-like villas of earlier centuries, and instead opening up to the landscape, by emphasizing axiality, proportion, and innovative definitions of compounds and terracing.
Two staggered linear pavilion-like structures, directed toward the view, define the character of the house. The pavilions are made of white “Dhrangadhra” limestone walls. White painted timber shutters shade the deep recessed steel framed windows. They are strong manifestations that act as long spatial telescopes, bringing the distant sea views seemingly closer by.
The house finds alternative ways to settle in the landscape. Half of the rooms are buried inside a solid “hook” shaped stone plinth. This stone base acts as a retaining wall.
At the same time, it supports a vegetated green roof terrace. At the lower level it forms a semi-open courtyard. This orients towards the view and provides a sense of protection. Interstitial landscape elements such as a series of stepped-down plinths and platforms reverberate the architectural intervention down along the slope. A curved infinity pool wraps around the covered outdoor lounge and living spaces. The sinuous lines echo the shoreline a few kilometers away.
