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Architects: Studio Frozen Music
- Area: 5000 ft²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Hemant Patil
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Manufacturers: ATOMBERG, Asian Paints, Jaquar, Legrand, Simpolo tiles, itaca
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Lead Architect: Mahesh Deepak Shirke
'Merging The Sky with The Ground' - This house is situated in a small village called Belagon Dhaga near Nashik City. The owners of the land are primarily farmers by profession and specialize in grape farming. They wanted to build a new house on the farmland. The site possesses a very scenic setting against the mountains far beyond, the adjacent grape farms, mango and banana plantations, and agricultural lands nearby providing a peaceful retreat from the fast and noisy urban life. The requirement was for a 4-bedroom house with spacious living and outdoor use areas and well-equipped private spaces. They especially wanted a blend of contemporary as well as traditional styles of architecture, in terms of spatial planning as well as visual expression of the structure is concerned. the zoning of the spaces was required to follow the Indian Vastu principles, but they particularly did not want a typical, confined, rectangular-type of architectural massing for the external appearance of the residence. The challenge and desire were to work out an architectural and interior solution that would try to fulfill these aspects.
Architectural Planning - As a designer, I first demarcated these zones, made separate functional blocks, and then combined those functional blocks in such a manner that would provide a 'multifaceted' and articulative outline' for the floor plan and the structure. the functional blocks evolve and adapt to different 'scales', both horizontally and vertically and the 'floor-plan geometry' shows this synthesis of varying 'scales.' The primary functional areas like the entrance portico, living and dining, are positioned in the central zone and aligned with the exact east-west direction. The service areas like Kitchen, Store, and Utility are positioned in the southeast zone. The bedrooms face the West, which is primarily the windward direction for the site. The Main entrance somewhat becomes hidden and humane, primarily due to the extended sloping roofline which goes all the way to the ground level and creates a setting for the sloping lawn. looking from the straight eastern frontage, the Sloping lawn, gradually connects with the pergola shade which then finally culminates in the traditional Mangalore tile sloping roof. This gradual Visual transition of the structure establishes the prominence of the central functional axis of the house with its dynamic visual language that would aspire to become an aesthetic landmark for the structure.
The semi-shaded pergola entrance court forms a welcoming gesture for the house. This space officers some scenic vistas of the mountains placed far beyond. The living room is a spacious area with a double height volume that lowers down towards the pergola court, making the space physically humane but visually seamless at the same time. The puja room is housed in a separate block -like an island surrounded by the water body and fountains. The humble scale of this block and its detached placement around the waterbody create a unique setting for the daily puja rituals, making that space truly peaceful and contemplative. Overall, Due to this scattered planning, isolated functional blocks, and varying spatial juxtaposition of volumes, each area of the house derives ample sunlight, unobstructed ventilation, and unique vistas.
Interior Design and Material Pallet - While doing the interior design, we wanted the spaces to look soothing and visually blend. Material pallet is designed with this aspect kept in mind. A Light beige color flooring tile with a matt finish is used all over the areas along with a uniform Burma-teak shade used for the Furniture to provide a seamless tactile as well as visual appeal for interiors. all furniture is mainly custom-designed on-site, keeping in consideration the functional requirements of the users and the architectural character of the house.
With an architectural planning, that expresses an 'isolated cohesion' (or 'cohesive isolation?') of varied spatial configurations throughout the functional areas, this house attempts to present an interesting blend of 'Privacy and Interaction.' the spaces do value the privacy of an individual in the house but also wish to provide an openness and stability conducive for family values.
