Aranya House is less of a home and more of a concrete yogi. It orients its walls towards trees, is earthy in hue, and wants to be steeped in the sights and sounds of the elements at all times.
Designed as a single-floor dwelling in Ahmedabad, this house is a luxurious sprawl sitting in the lap of nature. The structure is delightfully responsive to the series of palm trees that pre-existed on the site, and essentially orients itself towards them. “It is designed to be inclusive of the natural elements - the sun, earth, water, air and even fragments of the blue sky,” states the team from Modo Designs.
The layout segregates the spaces across different levels. The parents’ and sons’ living units stand separate, but unite through an open central bay that acts as the common meeting place of the house. It is a linear organisation that separates the front street side from the rear garden, also allowing the garden area a sense of privacy. “From the garden side, it is a low stretch of a horizontal formation, parallel to the line of the ground. The house basically has a 3-bay organisation scheme, with the first bay facing towards the street, containing the parents’, the guest and the kids’ bedrooms; the central bay which forms the transition area between the living quarter and the rear court; and the last bay towards the garden, consisting of the master bedroom, private sitting area, the formal drawing room and the private dining area,” explains the team.
The front yard is stark, with its cement and sand-finished base that matches the equally stark exposed concrete walls. This set-up is further complemented by the plain white walls. The flooring is dominated by Italian marble, while the semi-open verandah and courts are clad in brown river-finished kotah stone.
The interiors mostly sport white walls and wooden furniture. Some fragments of exposed walls become backdrops for the colourful fabrics, artefacts and artworks, all collected from different parts of India. The backyard features wood-and-glass doors and windows that open generously to face the calm, lovely garden.
In short, Aranya House is an abode that is truly, madly, deeply in love with nature.
