House of Three Streams

Location: Lonavala, Maharashtra Built-up area: 12,245 Sq.Ft

Completion Date: Nov, 2018 Plot area: 2 Acres

Description :

The topography of the land, the material memory of the surrounding forts, the light of the forest, and the deep water discharging ravines have created a dominant palimpsest of contextual parameters onto which the house has been woven.

The resonance of the large load-bearing wall that traces the ridge between two ravines anchors the proposal and establishes itself as a “found” element, resonating the contours and material of the walls of the Tungi and Lohgad forts to the east and north of the site. As the site flows to Pawna lake, so too does the house, picking clearings within the trees to capture the views of the lake.

Formal planning strategies are incapable of absorbing the radical flow of the land and water and everything from the spatial quality to the material language echoes the spirit of the site.

The wall ruptures at points where the verandahs bridge over the ravine and continue on into the forest to the second ravine beyond the ridge. Sleeping spaces are embedded in the forest while public spaces assume the mannerism of suspended flight to the north and east.

The roof follows the topography of the perch points, tracing the path laid down by the hill; its language of fletched rafters and weathering zinc a natural foil to the robustness of the locally quarried basalt. Its contours reference the horizon and the hill.

The deconstructed language of the tree-like structures that support the roof liberate the edges where shaded spaces and the forest merge.

The engagement of the “made” with the “found”, the subservience of the former to the latter is the only constant within this matrix of flux as the elements interweave to create the space of encounter with the forest and the hill.

Materials used: Locally mined Deccan-trap stone, Zinc roof, Saal wood, Teak wood, Glass, Kota Stone, Corten steel, granite.