Among the earliest thoughts that strikes you about Balwant and Usha Brahmbhatt\'s house is its coastal feel. But the house is in the dry, desert-like rural landscape at Koba near Gandhinagar. The relaxed linear spread of the house, however, and its dependence on the verandah as an organizing principle, are features more common to hot and humid climates. By staking the house on the verandah it appears that the architects, Mausami and Uday Andhare of Indigo Architects, approach the evening breeze as a positive climatic value that is as important to address in design as the dreaded heat and dust of the summer day. Climatic comfort is a core concern in this house, along with the need to make the most of a spectacular location. The central living area of the house is largely a transition space that is penetrable in many different directions. This multi-directional penetrability introduces a comforting ambiguity- between inside and outside, between formal living and informal lounging - into the core of the house. Koba house, sited by a river, thus seems to simultaneously reach for the intimacy of the desert and the expansive opening up of the coast.
