Text Credit: Salience
Located in the city of Surat, the site is a spacious 4000 sq. yard plot where the clients wanted to demolish the existing house and construct a new one. The site offered a lot of greenery around, so we, as designers, consciously found a perfect spot to build without disturbing a single tree on site.
An important concern that the clients had which basically guided us into coming up with this design concept, was their struggle during the floods. So instead of having a big plot, they insisted on having the house from the first-floor level. But in that case one loses a connection with the ground, therefore the design challenge was to build on the first floor but still maintain a connection with the ground floor. The house sits on the pedestal on the first-floor level, however, to bring down the scale of the house, an idea of the stepped terraces increased the diversity of the landscape; making it more functional while also defining a clear hierarchy for the various types of terraces.
The ground plus two structure doesn’t look that tall from the front elevation due to the stepped terraces that break it down. But the back elevation is where one can make out the actual height of the entire residence. There is a tiny cozy balcony punched out of the elevation for a direct view of the gate.
The ground floor basically consists of huge parking areas, multipurpose room, gym room, servant’s quarter and a dog house as they are really fond of them. The multipurpose room has a lot of loose furniture so that incase of floods, everything can be moved away easily. An interesting space is their 11 mts by 19 mts parking area, as it is designed column-free so that it can also act as a 2000 sq ft banquet hall for community gatherings with an advantage that the house doesn’t get disturbed at all!
The grand steps are a part of the grand entrance provided for the visitors starting near a lotus pond and entering the courtyard inside the house via a beautiful traditional entry foyer incorporating a ‘toran’. The naturally lit courtyard acts as a crucial space, as it binds the entire house together. It also accommodates the ‘Pushpa Vatika’ Artwork that guides the theme of the entire art integration of the house. The ceiling obliges another artwork- Surya Namaskar that expresses the alluring sunsets and sunrises, with a curvilinear pattern representing the water body and the shloka having 12 different names of the Sun.
The living, dining and kitchen areas on the first floor are taken to the front that opens up to an elevated garden. These stepped lawns eventually merge down to the ground, maintaining that connection. There is a bridge over the living area that connects the two master bedrooms and children’s bedrooms with their own private terrace garden. The bridge, also being a part of the courtyard.
The artwork in the Courtyard is the focal point of the house. It is an expression of Celebration and Togetherness. All the other artworks in various spaces are derived from various elements of the Courtyard Artwork. The overall Language of the artworks leans more towards certain traditional Indian forms of arts or towards abstraction.
This amalgamation of various depictions is the celebration of the very iconic ‘Raas-leela’ from Vrindavan, illustrated with the beautiful natural elements from ‘Pushpa-vatika’.
These artworks portray the entire house as a celebration of Togetherness and Family!
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