A House Pivoted around Chikoo Trees

India’s radical transformation in recent years is forecast to soon make the country one of the world’s leading powers. This swift,
all-pervasive economic, social, and technological development has also impacted India’s urban, spatial, and housing issues. Designers and architects are therefore key actors in this ongoing process, called upon to design contemporary urban living spaces that balance India’s rich heritage with a legitimate desire to look to the future.

The designers at Ahmedabad-based Studio Sangath have shaped their approach through close collaboration with Balkrishna Doshi, echoing his deep respect and sensitivity for the context. Sangath’s brief for this project, also in Ahmedabad, was to build a new family home around several Chikoo trees on a 7,000 sq. m plot that had long been owned by the clients.

In the family for three generations, the property had been used as a weekend retreat. Now part of the Ahmedabad metropolitan area on account of the city’s expansion, this former rural agricultural area is today a low-density residential quarter. Hence the decision of the family to make it their primary residence.

The site’s luxuriant vegetation is the major focus of the whole residential project, a legacy of the past creating a strong emotional link between the new, forward-thinking residence and this heritage site.

The building’s semi-open footprint is made up of an extraordinary variety of volumes, shapes, openings, and inclinations. Framing the landscape and filtering the sunlight, the Chikoo trees anchor the main living spaces. An articulated multifaceted construction on both exterior and interior, it creates environments with different degrees of privacy, and an interestingly unpredictable transition through the house.

On the exterior, exposed-concrete volumes advance and recede. This irregularly punctuated façade sets up niches, porticoes, and...

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