The location of site with its magnificent views of the Udaigiri hills & the mighty Brahamaputra river has played a major role in the designing of this house. The site is contoured, with the top most level perched upto the height of 7m from the approach road level. This height facilitated an unobstructed view of the river on the NW & the hills on the SE side. The land cutting for the ramp, servant’s quarter & the party hall has been used to fill the steep slope on the NW side resulting to a step terrace. This terrace is used by the lady of the house to enjoy her hobby of gardening. A cantilever deck juts out over this terrace. This deck is part of the outdoor space of the party hall that was carved out below the main house. The main bungalow is positioned on the flat portion of the topmost level of the contour.
Architect’ Firm: ADAPL
Website: www.adapl.in
Contact e-mail: archdesignart@gmail.com
Lead Architects: Ajay Sharma
Project location: Guwahati, Assam, India.
Completion Year: 2015
Gross Built Area (square meters or square foot): 11000sqft
Photo credits: Ajay Sharma
Other participants
Client – Mr. Lohia
Structural consultant – SeverR Engineers
AC consultants – Ace Alliance Pvt. Ltd.
Design team – Jignesh jani, Sunatra Das
Brands / Products
- Saint Gobain Glass
- Daikin Air-conditioning system
- HansGrohe
The site is divided into 3 levels vertically. The lowest level has servants quarter & party hall tucked below lawns on the ground level. The ground level comprises of the public spaces & the first floor hosts all the private spaces. Responding to the magnificent vistas the site had to offer, all the major spaces have been planned to maximise the changing visuals of the surroundings with the change in the seasons. The vistas guided the plan of the house to be extrovert looking. But at the same time it also looks within, to “the soul” of the house – the sky-lit central court. The central court wraps all the spaces around it. The sunlit court brings in the vastness of the river inside the house with its space flowing into each other. Mandir – the most sacred space of the house is placed in the court making the whole environment very serene in the mornings & evenings when the pooja is offered to the Gods.
The inclined car porch makes a grand entry to the house. One is invited by a carved marble cherub opposite the main entrance in the skylit court. The cantilevered staircase in black stone adds to the play of geometry with the wall dotted with rectangular & square punctures in varying sizes. The oblique grooves on the staircase wall add the contrast to the orthogonal punctures. The criss-cross grooves continue up to the roof which generates the shape of the skylight. The skylight washes the central court and adds to the expansiveness of the space. The glass lift shaft adds to the verticality to the courtyard.
The spaces are enveloped by double height volumes externally on the SE side. The bungalow appears a solid double height mass softened by glazing which provides the unobstructed view of the Udaigiri hills. The lush green lawns wrapped around the entire house helps in making the micro climate cooler in summers & a good setting to enjoy warm cups of Assam tea from the clients own tea gardens on misty winter mornings.
Ajay Sharma
After graduating from University of Mumbai with a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture & a gold medal from Rizvi college of Architecture in 1997, Ajay worked as a junior architect with Ar. Brinda Somaya, where he worked on various architecture and interior projects & hosted “Women in Architecture 2000plus”, a conference focusing on the work of women architects.
Branching out from architecture was a step taken towards Art direction in Bollywood, when he assisted Art Director Bijon DasGupta. He worked as an assistant art directors in movies like Dhadkan, Aashique, Ek Rishta and Haan Mainay Bhi Pyaar Kiya Hai along with the sets for various Ad films and shows.
Ajay was also associated as Consulting Architect at Ramoji Filmcity, Hyderabad, where he was involved in Designing and Art Direction for The Hollywood Theme Park in collaboration with American Art Director David Woody. He headed a team of 15 people comprising of junior architect, set designer, graphic artists, Cad Designers towards the developing of designs, presentation drawings, layout plans, working & detail drawings for execution .
Moving on from there he set up his design firm “studioADAPL” (architecture design art private limited) offering consultancy services in architecture, interiors & turn-key solutions for interior projects. The company specialices in designing high end residence projects, commercial & hospitality interiors. Projects have been executed in Mumbai, Guwahati, Kolkata, Nagpur, Jabalpur.
Along with practicing architecture, Ajay is also an academician. He teaches architecture in Rizvi college of Architecture, Mumbai. He mentors students for their final year thesis projects. He has been awarded the “Best Teacher’s Award” 2015 for Related Design Disciplines for Basic Design by Maharashtra Association of Schools of Architecture.