Take a tour through a select collection of homes across the length and breadth of India built by architects both new and experienced, conjured in diverse geographies. Hillside holiday homes, modern apartments in large metros, beachy villas opening out to views of the rolling surf – this book takes a look at well-designed homes crafted by architects working in India. Get the opportunity to look at everything from work-in-progress photos to sketches, blueprints and the final architecture of the home as it all comes together in the pages of the book.
Twenty architects, their iconic projects and how they are slowly redefining cityscapes and landscapes in the country.
Gauri Kelkar’s foray into architectural and design writing began with the launch of the Indian edition of Architectural Digest . It has been a rewarding journey, one which has enriched her own knowledge and understanding of a vast, ever-evolving discipline.
ISBN: 9789392130915
Gauri KelKarINTRODUCTION
Home: paeans have been written about it, of home being where your loved ones are, where your heart is, where your soul feels at peace. It’s the one place where you get to just be, stripped of judgement, secure in your world. You can find it anywhere then, can’t you? In small city apartments stripped bare of anything but necessities, in plush holiday homes of singular luxury, at the top of a sky-grazing penthouse or a modest space in a small town. Home is many things –and many locations – to people.
In this book, its incarnations are sprawling: at a weekend home meant for entertaining guests; at a tranquil abode at the precipice of a cliff; a simple two-bedroom that almost mimics a tree house in a grove; or a space decked out in mindful opulence; or a coyly gazing inwards on a busy city street. In this book, at least, ‘home’ is also a unique glimpse into how architects working in India have perceived, crafted, created and shaped, in a variety of diverse geographies, into spaces of stunning recall value, spaces which combine that residence that their clients want with the reality and specificity of inescapable context – and layered with incredible
vision, undeniable skill and a thoughtful deep-rooted love for the built form. Architecture, space-making, the act of making is, after all, so completely susceptible to subjectivity isn’t it? Shaped into existence through the predominance of unique tastes, subject to the proclivities and preferences of the people who will eventually inhabit them. Yet their final manifestation, that almost-perfect rhythm of a symphony where material, locale, climate, client seamlessly exist, is all down to the architects tasked with articulating a particular vision, who hold in their hands, quite literally, the dreams of their clients.
This book, therefore, is not just an anthology of the uncommon spaces across the length and breadth of the country; it is a deep bow to the architects practising in India today.
However, here’s a confession – a disclaimer if you will: the limitations of this book meant that we could feature only a slim slice of the diversity and skill at work across the country.
Twenty architects, newbies and veterans, and what they accomplished for homeowners across diverse
ABOVE The IMI Kolkata institute was the firm’s first project; the façade of the structure is coloured laminate with Vanceva PVB glass used in a random indiscriminate pattern, as a symbol of the unpredictable nature of the sky; it is also meant to represent a youthful vibrancy
RIGHT The Adisaptagram Waterfront Clubhouse in Hooghly, West Bengal is a public football clubhouse built for the neighbourhood; it represents ideas of reusability, economy and community participation
Integral to this process is the diverse topography of India and its many challenges. “It is projected that by 2030, 60% of the country’s population will have moved to urban areas while 40% will continue to live in the surrounding peri-urban landscapes. The adjacent towns of Adisaptagram and Bansberia in West Bengal are perfect examples of peripheral peri-urban areas that are swelling to absorb the spilling and sprawling city.” Within this rather challenging post-contemporary redistribution and redrawing that invisible boundary between urban and peri-urban, the firm is focused on raising “awareness towards the developmental reforms of these rural communities. The idea is to start small, in the form of ephemeral, impermanent and inclusive spaces, which can pave the way for larger
future enhancements in these neighbourhoods.” A clear example of the coming together of intent, inspiration and approach is the Gallery House in Bansberia, built using terracotta brick, a style of building that was echoed in the Bashudebh Temple in the neighbourhood.
“Exposed brick masonry walls, inlaid with ceramic blocks, define the building’s character as a contemporary expression of the rustic inspiration. Collaborating with a ceramic artist, we collected rejected ceramic blocks that had been produced for industrial use. Terracotta bricks were procured from a riverside brick field located nearby. These two were combined, using locally prevalent finesse of building masonry.” The result was a modern home rooted in its heritage, history and context, respecting the local, physical and social communities and craftsmen. “Empowering and encouraging the local industry in this way allows for a transparent and inclusive process, where the scale of human hands is felt throughout and the building acquires a human ‘skin’”. Furthermore, aligning the twin ideologies of context and sustainability are also important considerations.
“Taking cues from historic buildings and imbibing their indigenous methods towards sustainability in a modern way, is the soul of our design philosophy.”
That they applied this to a corporate office of one of India’s leading steel companies is a down to the uncompromising commitment to finding solutions that endure. “It’s beyond Bengal where you don’t find bricks. We used laterite and khondalite stone. also integrated the scrap of steel with the craft of the stone. This collaboration helps us as a practice to grow and push the idea of craft as a viable process.”
This preoccupation with material, craft, community and history—and investigating ways in which they can coalesce in contemporary expression—is evident in the
firm’s creation of IMI Bhubaneshwar in Odisha. “Known for its opulent cultural heritage and rich architecture, Odisha is full of archaeological treasures dating back from prehistoric times. For example, the rock-cut caves of Khandagiri and Udayagiri date back to first century BC and present a vivid picture of contemporary society.” True to form, Chaudhuri and his team strive to recreate this architectural legacy in the design of the institute. “The curved facade of the library block in the academic black will have sculptures, replicated from Khandagiri caves, in stone embedded into the facade. As one views the academic block, one sees a modern design reinforced with the traditional art of the culturally rich state,” says Chaudhuri. The thatched-roof, bamboo-made weekend home in Langalberia (covered extensively in the following pages) is yet another imprimatur of this approach.
Abin Design Studio’s experiments with architecture as a physical entity that can bring about change and enable, enhance and enrich human interaction is seen in the Waterfront Club too. A requirement for a community
TOP The Wall House in Bansberia, West Bengal; the exterior facade is a combination of scraps of steel with stone
ABOVE LEFT AND RIGHT The generously proportioned and high-ceilinged interiors of the Wall House, which has semi-permeable thresholds between courtyards and interiors
centre-esque space in the form of a regulation football clubhouse in Adisaptagram, in the hands of Chaudhuri, turned into an inspiring community-building exercise. “The Waterfront Clubhouse represents reusability, economising and the enthusiastic involvement of the community. It is a philanthropic public space, initiated with local crowdfunding of 17,500 pounds, which encapsulates the soul of the neighbourhood and models its sustainable economic growth. The local occupants have a collective responsibility to maintain it.”
For Chaudhuri, 16 years spent building structures of deep meaning has brought home the significance of architecture, irrespective of size or programme, permanence or impermanence. It has the potential to be transformative—socially, culturally, historically, and irrevocably. “We are trying to expand the realm of architecture to not only be the buildings of the urban fabric that shape our cities and towns, but also the temporary structures that enhance them. The firm’s
endeavour to imbue “soul in the shell” speaks to its belief in the emotional resonance a space has with its inhabitants. “Architecture as a practice is living in the moment and reacting to it. There is always a possibility of making a bad choice and reacting wrongly. But the fact that a well-thought, judicious reaction can enhance human life manifold is what keeps us going.”
Abin Chaudhuri’s research-sensitive approach and search to find meaning in how and what he builds is a distinctive phenomenon that has evolved from his constantly evolving understanding of the act of creation in a changing world.
OPPOSITE TOP LEFT The Gallery House in Bansberia, West Bengal took its cues from the state’s terracotta temples; exposed brick masonry walls are inlaid with ceramic blocks, collected by collaborating with a ceramic artist; the terracotta bricks were procured from a nearby riverside brick field
OPPOSITE TOP RIGHT
The Gallery House's terrace has multiple light wells that create dynamic movement of light in the interiors
BELOW An aerial view of the Wall House; located in a particularly crowded area in Bansberia, the residence was conceived as a an inward-looking space, closed out from the noise of the neighbourhood; also seen here is the Gallery House opposite
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