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Architects: Anagram Architects
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Photographs: Andre Fanthome & Ayush Prakash
Text description provided by the architects. Kindred House was conceived as the residence for two brothers and their families. Unlike a traditional Indian joint family which usually span three or more generations and tend to have strict filial hierarchies, the clients, in this project, are kindred nuclear families. Therefore, the design called for multiple social spaces of overlapping territori alities and usage along with specific zones for each family unit and member. It sought to house an environment where the teenaged cousins were together fostered by the four parents.
Taking a cue from the kinship between the two families, the design sought to create internal and external residential spaces for the families by evolving close and nuanced volumetric relationships between built masses. Three materially diverse, cuboidal volumes are supported on an interlaced, cantilevering structural system in front of a larger monolithic block . Through this, almost “jenga-lke”, arrangement the volumes appear to float between a pergola on the roof and a pool of water at the entrance, held in place by shared spatial relationships.
The voids , thus created, allow landscaped , external spaces to penetrate deeply into the living spaces flooding them with light and fresh air while allowing access to garden spaces on the ground as well as on terraces. Materially, the design seeks to enhance the “conversation” between diverse materials and built volumes through pattern, texturing and layering. In terms of massing, the “floating” blocks progress from the framed “hollow” cube of the entrance porch to the perforated meditative spaces to the monolithic guestroom block.
The tiling pattern of the wood-clad guestroom block is evinced as minimal fenestrations in the river stone gabion of the meditative spaces and is carried further onto layer of stone slabs that act as the brise soleil for the monolithic block at the rear. This site, one amongst a row of plotted houses, faces south and therefore is exposed to high thermal gain. Thermal stacking in the voids between the blocks draws a gentle breeze into the landscaped areas on different floors.
These spaces, generously shaded by the cantilevers, are very pleasant and accessible outdoors during the hot and humid months. They flow further onto sun terraces exposed to the warm winter sun. The bedrooms for the families are stacked in the monolithic block at the rear with large windows to the north, their thermal gain further mitigated by location the bathrooms and dressers along the southern face. The extensive terrace gardens also help insulate against the summer heat gain and winter heat loss.
