HOUSE AT KENSVILLE
Project is located within a golf resort, 40 kms south-west to the city of Ahmedabad. Its design is shaped mainly by the plot’s trapezoidal profile which has the wider end overlooking the golf course. Schematic formulation begins by having two exposed one and a half brick thick walls hold the longer sides of the plot. This sets up the main dialogic frame for the project. By playing up distinctions between the opposing shorter sides of this framework, the underlying relationships between the constituent programmatic parts are articulated.
The house is thus entered from the narrower, eastern end of the site through a tall entrance pavilion. Designed as a moment of pause at the threshold, it contrasts with the unitary interior space which amplifies towards the west with a horizontal thrust. This spatial effect is achieved by widening the floor, roof as well as the walls outwards to align with the shape of the plot.
At the ground level, bedrooms with fewer openings are placed at the eastern edge while the living, dining and kitchenette are unified into a single, continuous volume, which expands and releases out into the swimming pool and the gardened landscape to the west. Organisationally, these moves allow the large neem trees, back garden, and the golf course right outside the house to be enjoyed from within as a continuous, extensive greenscape. This works particularly well for the mezzanine which is introduced into the largest part of the volume to the west. Accessed by a ramp from the opposite side, it houses a bedroom and a lounge area, both of which afford the best panoramic views of the exterior.
The project’s composite structural system eliminates the need for walls except at the periphery, enhancing the experience of the flowing internal volume, textured surfaces of exposed brick and RCC, and the inclined RCC roof sweeping outwards. The western side of the house is made entirely with large timber windows. Folding in and out, they are designed to break the flat surface formed along the house’s west facade. Their sculptural play gives weather shading, built-in seats and a variety of doors and windows, all the while exciting possibilities of experiencing an architecture of edge-making.
