HOUSE IN THE CITY

Location:Vadodara
Plot Area:8000 SQ. FT
Built-up Area:6600 SQ. FT
Programme:Homes
Status:Completed
Completion Year:2022
Photographer:Tejas Shah

This house is on a bustling street, surrounded by a cacophony, a chaos of vehicles, vendors, pedestrians, all teeming with energy. And suddenly the noise disappears and one is away from the outside mayhem, surrounded by an atmosphere of calmness.
It was a very challenging site to work with, which was a corner plot on a busy junction across a vegetable market. The clients were certain of two aspects - a house that shuts the outside commotion while allowing them a sense of privacy and a house that opens to a garden with a pool. To respond to this, we took the approach of designing an inward-looking house that acts as a sort of a cocoon that cuts off from the outside and instead looks within.
What then resulted is an L-shaped house that envelops and opens to the garden. From the outside, the house exudes boldness with its floating mass of brick and a few slits that actually give it a distinct character to an otherwise solid appearance. While we did not want to reveal much on the outside, it is only on the inside that the house unveils itself.
One is almost taken by surprise here; the openness and the tranquility of this space which is the living and dining area makes one forget about the outside world. Although it is not big in terms of the area, one can feel the vastness here because of the way it seamlessly extends into the garden on two sides and visually connects with the courtyards on the other two sides. While we have closed off the south and the east side, these openings and courtyards that we have punctured help in bringing a lot of natural light into the house at different times of the day.
The best part about this space is that one can endlessly sit here and observe the way nature unfolds – light filtering through the foliage of the Mango tree, the glistening pool with all the reflections, the faint chirping of the birds, playful shadows on the grass; all creating an atmosphere that is almost meditative in nature.

The organisation of the plan is a simple L on the ground floor with a linear floating brick mass on the first floor. One side of the L house the common areas and the other side, the bedrooms. The living, dining and staircase courtyard form the main visual axis and the informal foyer, dining and pool the secondary axis. These axes balance the ratio of built vs open in the house. In spite of having solid masses in south and east, it is these courtyards which exhibit play of light, adding a lot of vocabulary to the house. The L shape mass further frames the garden within allowing the house to be immersed in imageries of the landscape.
The exposed RCC staircase takes one to the family seating on the first floor. This space, a little more private sit-out amongst the common areas extends into a beautiful terrace. This terrace overlooks the garden and pool on the ground floor creating interesting interactions between spaces. There is a bedroom on both side of this sitting space.
Brick and concrete finish walls run through different areas of the house. These walls, kota flooring in the lower volume and wooden flooring in the upper volume together form a very natural material palette for the house. The mutely rounded edges of the wooden furniture soften the stimulating spaces where as its fine craftsmanship reveals of an intimate coexistence with the surroundings.
We want to create spaces that can elevate and inspire the user. Spaces that connect with the user at a deeper level and create an experience that has a lasting impression. Our effort was to achieve this in the house. It is the simplicity of the architectural expression along with the honesty of the natural materials used that creates an unforgettable experience for the user.
Almost like a retreat, the house provides for a quiet and contemplative living to live a life close to nature in the middle of the city.