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Architects: Plan Loci
- Area: 1800 ft²
- Year: 2015
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Photographs:Saptarshi Sanyal
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Manufacturers: Fundermax, Saint-Gobain, Hunter Douglas, Jindal Steel
Text description provided by the architects. Designed by plan loci, Apartment 143 block is born out of rational considerations. While maximizing floor space, the facade breaks its own apparent monotony with strict geometries that do not reveal their underlying discipline. The sinuous grey metal on the outside celebrates the industrial, while not betraying the inner layer of timber-framed fenestrations which make its occupants feel the intimacy and warmth of a home. Three distinct layers of alternating planes in its balconies partly shade and partly illuminate its interiors for the west-facing plot. The windows and openings are full length, allowing uninterrupted access to the front of every unit. The extreme verticality is broken by the basic ordering element as horizontal lines.
The architecture attempts to draw interest from the street while the play of light and shadow humanizes its scale when seen from up dose. The exteriors use grey aluminum horizontal louvers fixed on a steel frame. The doors and windows are in wood. The metallic perforated façade protects the warm wooden layer inside.
The challenge was the narrow small plot where the developer's requirement was to create a 3 bedroom spacious apartment. Further, there was a need of flexibility as each buyer could differ in requirements. This was handled in the interiors by using partition based systems for the kitchen and the third bedroom. Hence. a buyer could modulate the spaces as per his/her needs. The facade is west facing with a lot of sunlight all day long. The plot sits right on a road which is one of the main arteries of the plotted housing. The apartments needed protection from the traffic while having the opportunity to come out in the open in good weather.
The grey aluminum horizontal louvers façade - a unified solution - protects the built form from the heat, provides privacy to the balconies from the traffic on the road, and acts as a railing as well. The balconies are angular and are flipped around from the ground to the top white also receding back. Two framed louver systems join in as a protection layer on every floor while continuing to flip around and receding in the same rhythm.
