City: NASHIK

‘KAVIDHAN’ – where the poetry of life breathes……

Every living creature is reflection of ‘the elements of nature’, responsive and sensitive towards every littleness of the planet. Its belongingness to the place defines its core values and generates the ‘intangible ideas of living’.

As seventy percent of the crowded Indian context is bonded by common walls in old city fabric of traditional housings. It retains unique sense of belonging in response to climate, context and past. The need for expansion over generations has woven with a sense of freedom informally evolving and varying as per the individuals over the ages, but in an order to ‘respond the time & place’.

Today’s need and time has opened third dimension to reobserve dwellings beyond the only need to expand rather deeply think to respond the ‘values living within’.

‘KAVIDHAN’ a 120’X 11’X 47’ East-west niche carved between the two common walls in the densely populated rural place ‘vansda’, reveals on the edge of Maharashtra and Gujrat. A home for varied biodiversity. A place for community to live in coexistence with nature. The atmosphere of the place is serene and charged in the symphony of supernatural elements of nature (Earth, Sky, Water, Wind and Fire). The dimension fulfills this in- between-ness of man and nature creating a harmonic balance through five elements courts in the house. The memory of mountain creeks in the journey left behind beholds deep values of place, people and culture.

Urning this memory of experience into the feeling of space.

The chaotic chanting of the surrounding disables at the dawn as the early east rays enters, cleansing over the series of spaces tuning the water resonating within. The indirect east light illuminates the double height space above the kund at the heart of the house. Purifying the spaces by satisfying the principles of Jainism.

The porosity of breathing spaces make feel the west prevailing breezes from the court filled with aromatic fragrance making it an inviting space to the house. It activates in the morning to collect flower for rituals and children’s pondering with grandparents awakening them with words of experience and guidance under shade making a meaningful space of learning for generations. In evening the family together enjoys in the comfort of cool breeze, acting like an otla- a semi open threshold of inside and outside. These spaces begin to expand in multiple ways as the user imagine to live with it over time, responding each season to dwell with.

The internal section of the house creates the external ideas of living in the old context. The five staircases in the house elevates parallel up to the court, forming a pause to interact at every level in an ease, creating memories in togetherness. The playful plinths (earth court) interwoven becomes a part of children overlooking the kitchen maximizing its use for multiple activities. The kitchen, dining space, water court and earth court are highly interactive core and social throughout the day camouflaging each other’s values in performing the activities of the day. Simply grounding themselves at the dining as a ritual of gratitude in the presence of natural energies around. The bedrooms overlook the central space while the core offers an open-ended vision up the sky keeping eye control over spaces.

Each space responds & dedicates each one character’s stage of life and their true nature making it more valuable and very own. The multidimensional courts and spaces sculpted in-between grey washed walls creates inquisitiveness, yet offers a ‘freedom of choice’ to each individual let ‘deeply ponder within and without’, making it a constant space of solace.

The external response to the immediate context and climate with chapru-sloping roofs and balconies to create a dialogue with the neighbourhood. The aagashi- (terrace) is the place of special importance to the state for celebrating seasons throughout the year, summer- cool breezes and yearly household activities, rains- being part of nature, winter- kite flying festival. The terrace garden is accompanied with the mezzanine of the west master bedroom acting like an extended space to meditate and work in solitude.

More of seen its dynamically unseen story of the house to witness is an open-ended reel of experiences and also of its completeness in the subtle contrast of light and dark. The contraction and expansion of spaces in series avails the explorer to disappear and reappear throughout the house in infinite opportunities of creating memories and experiences. The monolith appearance is a silent poetry awakening and resembling to the spiritual values reverberating in the spaces.

House without a form- just atmosphere.

Architecture cannot be seen in isolation. Habitable spaces need to be unique to their context, user and unsaid brief, simply as two humans are not similar. We believe every house should be crafted in response to this, to create originality and retain the unique character shaped by the place, people, and time.

House 20 X 22 is located in Nashik in a low rise and densely populated locality majorly consisting of row houses, due to the close proximity of houses, these constantly overlook into each other. The site sits along the North East corner of a cross junction formed along narrow streets, this corner has a tree and has always been a meeting place, a pause point for the colony.

In response to context and user, the brief derived was to achieve a house with inward looking private spaces with a possibility for them to expand into outside as and when required.

The project started with us looking for all the freedom inside a restrained margin that the house could offer as a habitable space to the users while still being a secured envelope. Due to the restricted size of the plot, the building took form of two storeyed house which appeared as a vertical built with disassociation to the scale that of the neighbouring houses.

Thus, came the use of marginal spaces with compound wall as an enveloping element. This organization of folding compound wall gave shape to multiple usable courts and the scale of built was able to break the verticality of building. The permissible built expanded towards these envelopes forming larger spaces inside both visually and physically which could be used for different activities as well.

Five envelopes are formed, the first envelope is placed on NE corner junction and is kept low in scale and it became the pause and a first place of interaction with the house. This space is shaded & surrounded by an existing tree and acts as a public courtyard for the house, a gathering space and also can be used for parking.

It leads you to the second envelope which is planned as the semi-public courtyard. The organization of this cuboid behaves as an extended entrance where the family and the guests can reside. The high walls of this court provide a sense of enclosures and forms an informal living area. The entrance of the house is scooped out from this courtyard which orients the user towards the interiors.

The Ground floor consists of living room, kitchen, dining and utility. The living Room is oriented towards the NW corner where it flows into the third envelope formed at the outermost edge. The scale of this envelope creates a visual barrier from the neighbouring house and allows wind and light to flow in smoothly.

All the services are kept in south-west as this become visual barrier due to the placement of neighbouring houses. Staircase is also planned in this corner which leads one to the bedrooms.

On the first floor, the bedrooms connect to outside by recessed standing balconies. Strategic placement of these vertical niches allow the upper floor to connect with the courts, family spaces and neighbourhood. This gesture of having a vertical opening has come from the wadas of Nashik, where the vertical windows allows for adequate intake of light and ventilation while maximising privacy indoors.

The formation of building appears as cubes interlocked while the finishing and ornamentation is kept minimal. The expression of the house is kept as multiple white walls with strategic folds which also expresses the inclusive nature of the Indian families.

The hierarchy of the Public, Semi-public and Private spaces; the idea of Open, Semi-open and Closed spaces, for different occasions, time periods and varying climate, all of these aspects of a house have been conceptualised in a tiny plot of 20×22 ft through interlocking cubes.