The house has been designed to create a physical and visual flow of spaces. Its plan, form and character are determined by the nature of the site, the materials used, and existing climatic conditions.
This project is an urban city house designed by us in Jubilee Hills which is a very premium residential area of Hyderabad and is naturally elevated where the context and surroundings are also very encouraging.
PRIVATE RESIDENCE
ANAND MANTHENA
ROAD NO. 33, JUBILEE HILLS, HYDERABAD
2008 – 2013
SIZE: 12,000 SFT
The clients are a young couple from a very affluent business family of Hyderabad having pharmaceutical background.
They had a desire to build a residential house for themselves with total built up area ranging from 10000sft to 12000sft on a 1255sq.yards of land.
As a part of design brief, we were asked to design a house for single family having 4 to 5 bedrooms with formal and informal spaces with lot of greenery around, the couple was very particular about the Vastu compliance, which has almost become the back bone of any design brief we get in Hyderabad. The requirements of client in terms of styling and looks were very simple & modest they wanted a well-planned house with modern contemporary feel.
Total area of the plot was 1255.79 sq. Yards with a shape similar to rhombus stretched out towards North-East & also on South-West corners with roads on East & North side. The North on the plot was stretched out towards West by 55 degree.
Hyderabad has a tropical wet & dry climate, usually very hot & dry in summer and the temperatures can go upto 46 – 47degree celcius.
After the Vastu correction of the site we were left with only 1050 sq. Yards of land to play with and we nor the client wanted to lose even an inch of this land being a very expensive commodity. House was positioned towards South-West corner of the property as per Vastu requirements maintaining the required setbacks as per norms allowing more open spaces towards North & East of the property. Since the requirements in terms of size were pretty big we thought it would be better if we added a Stilt floor to this house to tuck away all the services, servant room & car parks etc. under the main floor plate which also added the advantage of lifting the house up by one floor for better ventilation, elevation & protection from sound and dust pollution as the street on which the house is built is quite busy during the evenings times.
After working on initial layouts, we realized that we hardly had enough space for landscaping on the ground level which was just enough for avenue plantation around the plot boundary and small patch of green on the front setback which again could not be accessed from ground floor as we had proposed to have a stilt floor to the structure.
To resolve this we decided to extended the floor plate of the ground floor towards East & North side and provide a sunken slab to accommodate some landscaped spaces in front of the main entrance of the house on the ground floor, it was designed in such a way that it merged and blended very beautifully with avenue plantation within the plot boundaries and also with the trees on the street to give all-inclusive look, besides it also acted as an buffer for reducing dust and sound pollution.
And to reclaim the land piece on the South & West side lost due to Vastu corrections we created retaining walls on the boundaries proposed by Vastu consultants and also built a retaining wall on the actual plot boundary of the property on South & West side and filled up the void in between these walls with soil to design landscaped spaces on the top which was accessible from ground floor of the house and also visible from formal living area. This part of property also had some natural rock formation which was retained as an integral part of landscape.
It can be noticed in the front elevation of the house that the extended portion on ground floor is intentionally kept parallel to the plot boundary & road on the East side, but the main structure of house seems to be slightly tilted towards East giving it a very interesting and prominent character, added to this on first floor we had a large volume balcony and hanging terraces with exotic plantation which give it a very contemporary yet tropical feel.
The complete structure is in concrete & steel painted in white color with no special treatment or cladding whatsoever, we have tried our best to keep the elevation of the house as minimal and simple with just the overtones of walnut finished wooden ceiling on ground floor and touch of wooden elements on West & South side of the facade where we also have double walls for thermal insulation.
There are two main gates to the property one on the North East corner and the other on proper Northern side, the car entry to the stilt floor is from North side corner and the gate on North East corner is used only for dropping off the guest in front of the main steps which are cut out in the extended North-East part of the slab leading to the main door of the house on the ground floor, which is again East facing.
As we step inside the entrance foyer of the house on the left wall we have a 11ft tall mural of Radha Krishna in black and white marble which has become the focal point of this space along with a water body on the right side of foyer and drawing room on the right which is overlooking on the front scape, the experience of walking from main door to the drawing is very interesting and engaging as we interact with interior as well as exterior spaces at the same time.
Floor plan is very open & free flowing with well-defined formal and informal spaces. As we walk inside the centre of the main hall on the North side, we have informal living & enclosed formal living space and on South side of this hall we have formal dining & open kitchen which opens to their respective courts. The central court called as the Brahmasthana has a cut between ground & first floor and on second floor it is open to sky like any traditional Indian court houses allowing lot of sun light to penetrate through but is covered with fixed glass and automated blinds to give protection from rain and excessive summer heat of Hyderabad, exhausts fans have been also provided on the sides of skylights to suck out the warm air which usually rises upwards. North and South side of the living and dining are well ventilated with large openings and sliding glass panels to allow cross ventilation and invite exterior views and interact with nature.
Entire colour palate of this house is very neutral where white is very dominant as requested by the client. With white walls and white marble flooring we have managed to splash some colour accents in the form of colourful lightings, accessories, artworks, furniture and of course the large window openings which allow free and intimate interaction with outdoor,
On the entrance wall of the formal living room is a monolith mural of the tree of life – Kalpa Vriksha carved out in grey cement and eventually coated with white cement with some leaves of the tree projecting out in pure silver and the idea of projecting silver leaves was that as humans we have so many desires & dreams as many as there are leaves on the tree and some desires are fulfilled at some point of time in this life which these silver leaves keep remind us about.
First floor is totally a private space with three bedrooms i.e. Master bedroom with large walk-in-closet and toilet, the Kids’ room and one room for their parents. Besides this we have a Pooja room, a study and a balcony overlooking the East side road. The cut-out in the centre of first floor is overlooking the ground floor and establishes a direct relation between the 2 spaces allowing communication and interactions between these spaces to be possible.
Second floor is planned for entertainment with a bar room and a home theatre spilling out onto the open terrace on East which is designed for entertainment as well. We also have a Gym, Yoga room, spa rooms and a separate area for massage with shower and steam.
All the fixed furniture was built on site and for sourcing loose furniture we travelled with the client & lot of pieces were also procured locally. The house incorporates key green building features & is fully automated.
Working on this house was an amazing and very fulfilling experience as the clients were open and very interactive.
H P Lakhani Associates
Our firm, H P Lakhani Associates, founded by our Principal Designer Haresh Lakhani came into being, about two decades ago in 1994 in Hyderabad. He graduated from Mumbai and studied Design at the LS Raheja College of Architecture, Mumbai. His work repertoire includes many successfully executed architectural and interior design projects in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and the USA engaging in wide-ranging projects from Gated Communities, Apartment Complexes and individual Residences to Hospitality, Commercial and Retail Spaces and Hospitals. A self-taught Architect with an experience spanning over 25 years in the field of Architecture, Interior Designing and Consultations. He has to his credit many accolades and awards and has been amply recognized for his distinctive work.
A highly analytical and strategic approach is our core philosophy. We create environments that satisfy the diverse needs of our clients and this covers functional and financial aspects, aesthetic and emotional quotients, elegant and bold themes and immediate and strategic applications.
When showcasing our brand image, all our projects demonstrate the H P Lakhani Associates touch. Our evocative designs, our intuitive design presence, fine-tuned and customized solutions, coupled with synergized approaches, applying age-old design principles to present-day innovations, optimized spaces, spatial development, achieving perfect amalgamations of contemporary and traditional designs, minimalistic and simplistic design elements, adapting newer textures and finishes, initiating changing heights and forms and evoking a sense of drama when managing natural light flow and shadows, eliminating hard and fast lines between the interiors and exteriors thus giving the feel of a perfect synchronization of architecture, landscape, interiors as one organic structure.
In our work, we are ably assisted by an experienced and qualified team of architects, consultants, engineers and interior designers. As a team we constantly endeavour to learn and adapt to newer uses and applications of natural materials, recycled materials, thus offering sustainable, cost-effective solutions without compromising on the quality of design, work and materials.
We synergize our design ideas and plans with our clients. We collaborate, plan, counsel and develop architectural and interiors solutions which help ease complex relationships between geometry, landscaping and master planning. We understand the challenges of budget limitations and for us we perceive it more as an opportunity to explore revolutionary, innovative methods, adapting and doing things that would result in ground-breaking, functional, elegant and sustainable designs.
H P Lakhani Associates have worked with several renowned Consultants to provide the ultimate in architectural, structural, landscape and MEP solutions and over time, we have come to be known for our iconic buildings, design excellence, innovation and the imperative sustainable architecture, which also incorporates green building features.
