Architecture as a science emerged from Man’s humble need for shelter. ‘A home’ is the purest form of design. However modernised the skin, the spirit of a home is its timelessness, where architecture transcends fashion. ‘Beyond a room with sturdy walls, a roof, a window, a hearth, all else is luxury…’
Looking deeper into an elemental dwelling makes us realise that what makes a person truly belong to a space is the simplicity and effective response to the immediate environment. In a warm climate people have a very different relationship to built form. One needs but minimal protection, such as a chhatri (an overhead canopy), during the day. In the early morning and at night, the best place to be is outdoors, under the sky. ‘…there is something about looking up and seeing light- I think the tilt of your head awakens some primordial instinct…’ – Charles Correa
A ‘Home’ has been the object of personal fantasy, a source of delight, a talisman, a personal revelation for the inhabitant, often conceived as a living entity. The Asian spirit of celebrating community over individual, the importance of family as an extension of self has led to the formation of a home as an extremely intimate array of spaces. The edge between inside and outside is ambiguous. ‘The meeting space’ is an important element in the subcontinent manifested in the form of traditional courtyard houses.
CLIMATE has been woven into the realms of a home. The building itself, through its very form and orientation, creates the ‘controls’ which the user needs. Such a response necessitates much more than just sun angles and louvers; it must involve the section, the plan, the shape, in short: the very heart of the building. Light and Ventilation exhibiting various qualities help modify the mood of the home. Ventilation, specifically generated through the ‘Stack effect’, is achieved through variations in roof design.
The plans see a refreshing progression of spaces seen in traditional community planning setup ranging from ‘Public-Semi public- Private’ spaces created by a matrix of Open and enclosed volumes in the built mass. In addition light and air are controlled with a variation in fenestration infill like the jaali, louvers, grills, glazing all based on the principle of the ‘Venturi Effect’. An attempt for the ‘Vernacular Modern’ can be made in terms of technique and aesthetics while retaining purity of materials and values. Each form blends into and lives and breathes the surroundings; none trying to outshine nature, rather letting nature take its course. The open to sky space- connection with the infinite is an element common to both modules. The wall acts as the ‘character’ and the fenestrations as a climatic component. Variations in the two create multiple derivatives of the built form.