Vertical Courtyard House / Manoj Patel Design Studio

Curated by Hana Abdel

Architects: Manoj Patel Design Studio
Area: 287 m²
Year: 2020
Photographs:Umang Shah

Text description provided by the architects. The residential dwelling is locality in the physical basis of village community of Vadodara; Gujarat, India. The residence is planned by exploring the interaction between surrounding houses, dense greenery and the village lifestyle. The owner of the house has a nuclear family consisting the couple and their children. They are accustomed to live a simple and quite life based on their village community. While approaching this project, the main challenge was to incorporate an existing bank structure on the ground and create a house which feels close to nature.

Evolving the thought process, for this west facing house, we decided to take in the diffused light and create a volumetric mass. Here the study of climate plays an important role in planning in an organized layout with multiple voids in the form of terraces and double height spaces. The absence of openings on west façade provides a large surface area for cladding. Vernacular material- clay roof tiles was identified to clad which is low cost and has longevity. The pattern is explored through various arrangements and craftsmanship that depicts the toran graphics at 45 degree angles. The proportions of clay roof tile strips casts shadow on the surface based on sun’s movement in Indian context. The screening keeps the interior spaces cool and yet stands out of the local fabric.

To differentiate the existing ground structure and the entry gateway of the dwelling, a huge pergola framed structure with adjacent recessed green wall is created in bold dark colors to emphasis the massing. The sun’s harsh rays get cut due to the pergolas and keep the parking space shaded. When entering the main structure on the first floor, is double height foyer partly covered with vertical fins to protect from west glazing and to have a visual connectivity across the road. The door shows a different concept of merging jali effect with safety measure as new see through screen. Play of bold palette emphasis the intricate beauty of the door.

Vertical Courtyard House / Manoj Patel Design Studio - Interior Photography, Stairs — © Umang Shah

The house has primary functions of living, kitchen, dining and bedrooms on the first and second floor respectively. To bring in the traditional art and craft of village as contemporary outcome, the living room is transformed into double height space in plain palette contrasting to the colorful patterned fabrics and rug. The proportions of openings bring in the required light and ventilation, preventing the harsh sun. As an alternate to monotonous kitchen interiors, here to depict the theme based, a contrasting color palette of brown is used distinctively with white shade.

The dining space is arranged around an inner double height courtyard in the middle of the house, creating an airy, peaceful and quiet space separate from the outside space. The crafted backdrop mural becomes the focus for the space and forms an introvert dinning, helping to connect the family with the nature and themselves. There are many layers of double height spaces, voids even designed for the master bedrooms on the first and second floor. To have privacy and visual connectivity with the dining space vertical slits have been designed on one of the bedroom walls. The connected punctured huge balcony creates air corridors for the internal as well as external space. Keeping with the interior theme, backdrop has been carved from minimum wooden panels which make it appear large.

The staircase sets its own identity in the double height space through the semi open railing element designed to combined adjoining tv wall unit and an above over hung passage in play of contrasting yellow and grey. This creates an illusion of whole mass popping out of the inward looking subtle colored mass. The master bedroom on the upper floor has large balcony acting as a barrier and canopy for the first floor below. This acts an interactive link making it look voluminous connected frame mass. The beauty of the backdrop gets enhanced in pink graphics and texture of wooden laminates with the play of shadow.

Styling for kid’s room, color palette is perceived in vibrant combination of pink and violet with interactive visual experience. The study table has been designed adjacent to an opening to get diffused light and close to nature feel due to dense vegetations around. Through this project, we incorporated simple methods to create architectural spaces, use of common local material to clad and color palette of pop out shades which enhance the beauty of mass. From every position outside the house, one can see different large openings for ample of airflow and natural lighting into the spaces, to create a warm feel.