By : wadeindia | 14 Mar 2017 | Recent projects
The design process initiated with planning along the trees, leaving two foremost palms as a part of the front open space. The Mango tree was treated as the retro-fit outdoor seating beneath the tree, retouching the clients age old memories of a their ancestral house. Another Palm being along the indoor jacuzzi, open to sky ensuring its natural growth. The fourth palm was wrapped around by a pergola above the verandah, beautifully framing its verticality. The fifth palm the tallest of all, gave us an opportunity to let it pass through the bar counter in the living room, to the master bedroom and out in the sun and be seen from the master bathroom's skylight. The Living room extends on two sides simply by sliding the windows, one side to the verandah and other side to the jacuzzi area (open to sky). Natural light was a major design component.

WEEKEND HOME
The building is planned with its majorly usable area (the living room) located around north east side which ensures minimal heat penetration in the structure. The Bedrooms and other utility on the other hand were placed in the south and west side which had more of thermal insulated wall systems to avoid heat penetration in the structure. The double height space in the living room ensured a maximum cool space in the living room as the hot air rises up. The north side verandah of 10’ width and the east side jacuzzi area with an open to sky area ensured descent cross ventilation which minimized use of artificial cooling. The ambient lighting from the north and eastern side supported with a skylight above living room ensured bright spaces during day time which minimizes dependency on artificial lighting. Solar Panels were installed on the roof to ensure electricity requirements of the various kitchen equipments were met. A rain water tank was created below the entrance gate to store the rain water, this water is mainly used to maintain the landscaping.
Steel Beams used to reduce beam depths in the living room are more environment friendly than RCC Beams. The roofing is made in trusses of Mild steel structure and not an RCC slab. The site was filled with Soil to elevate the plinth level, the reason to fill soil was clearly to ensure the trees get enough nutrition from the soil around. Regular RCC Plinth Beams made the framework for this soil to be contained.
29,255 total views, 5 views today