The Tree Villa doesn’t just live surrounded by wild greenery but also apes the verticality and branching subsections of a tree.
There is a difference between being ‘among the trees’ and settling into nature’s calming embrace, with tree branches quite literally inter-locked at some spots. This clearly describes the feel of Tree Villa.
The setting is the vicinity of the famed Buddhist Kuda caves in the city of Tala, Maharashtra. It is to the credit of the team from Architecture BRIO that the home isn’t crowded with cumbersome props. The overall look is clean, fresh and sturdy. Polished wood co-exists with the natural variety and the inside-outside flow means tree branches slither into private spaces. And then there is all the glass, both reflecting and revealing, which accords the residence an air of elegance.
This is a 225 sq m property with a river landscape in its neighbourhood. The Tree Villa stands on a cliff, built to house six people in a free-flowing scheme. Rather than compartmentalising activities into distinct rooms, the main space is broken up into three smaller enclosures.
Among all the sections, the most visually satisfying is the bathroom nook, with a free-standing bath tub sitting beside a Garuga fruit tree that has been allowed to puncture through.
The home is accessed by first trudging across the forest floor and then across a timber bridge; then one moves on to a stilts-elevated, generous deck that wraps around the house’s girth like a sarong. The deck functions as an expansive viewing platform.
Some of the furniture pieces are reclaimed, while others are custom-made. Everything, from the sofa upholstery to the bed and table linen to the tall tie-up curtains, channel a sublime range of white to grey hues, while some cushions and rugs summon spots of darker greys and browns.
The large glass swathes here are more walls than windows. A king-size bed within a soft linen fabric enclosure can be opened or closed off. The small dining area looks out to a deck and all the lushness beyond. The pantry-cum-loft section houses a kitchenette. A little away from the dining zone is a small coffee table spot, privy to the beautiful views and to a spiral staircase that descends into the guest suite with thick forest views.
