Situated
on the outskirts of Vadodara, the site offered green sprawls and an avenue to
connect to its context. Designed for a fine dine experience, the building
allows for an intimate connection of the inside and outside. The client brief was simple, they wanted to take
in the north light and had a desire to construct a space that made one feel as
though they were sitting in the lap of nature. Made in exposed brick and reinforced cement
concrete, the architecture of this project is very true to its structural
tectonics.
The very first commission as a licensed architect, this project was an enticing opportunity to witness the manifestation of an idea in reality. The clients were a couple from the city of Vadodara who shared a long awaited dream to retire and start a restaurant in the suburbs of the city. They desired to have a structure that was very simple in its form but offered views of the greenery around the site, something that would be a contrast to the cityscape. The client also wanted to have a lush green lawn along with the main building to offer some outdoor seating.
Since the site was located in the suburbs of the city there were a lot of farmlands around it, as a matter of fact the neighbouring plots to the north had lush green shrubbery all around it with tall trees. The idea here was to connect with the site greenery, as there were no tree on the clients plot we decided to open up to the northern views where the neighbouring plot had tall trees, which is why the slope of the roof is towards the south opening to north.
Moreover the neighbouring plot was a part of the government owned green belt which meant that the tall trees were there stay. A simple action to have taller northern windows with overhangs in concrete to shelter it from the harsh Indian climate became the main design feature. The first task was to decide the orientation of the project, which was ultimately along the length of the east west axis to open up the longest side towards the north. The kitchen block was placed close to the road to ease the job of unloading groceries and a line of restrain was established to keep the lawn width intact.
The restaurant space of about 230 sq meters with a huge seating capacity of 120 was then clubbed with the kitchen block to make the job of serving easier. The alternative of breaking up or de-fragmenting the main space all over the plot was not possible as that would cause lot of delay in serving customers. As margins were to be established both from the road side and the southern edge, there was a courtyard plugged in the south side to attach more greenery alongside all facade of the main space. The roof of the main space is then sloped towards south to open the volume towards the north lawn.
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