The family home has three levels, each catering to different members and their requirements.
Spread across an area of about 800 square yards and built over three different levels, this residence in Panchkula, Chandigarh, is conceived to address the growing needs of the nuclear family living in a house. The client brief for Rahul Bansal and Amit Aurora of DCA Architects called for an earthy, organic-looking house with a villa/mansion-like aesthetic, that would create contemporary, comfortable living, rooted in Indian tradition.
The layout is planned with the main public zones being located on the ground floor together with the elderly parents’ rooms and the master bedroom and study. The son’s and daughter’s bedrooms are located on the first floor. The second floor has been designed as the entertainment and relaxation zone, away from the more private spaces of the house, complete with all entertainment facilities, a bar and a front terrace.
The overall spatial planning is achieved by creating multiple, small landscaped areas based on views from each of the intimate spaces. Patches of grass to the front and back of the site create a green calm. Rather than planning the entrance from the front scenic garden, it has been designed at the end of the driveway, with a small landscape area that celebrates the entrance.
The entire vocabulary of elevation design is embedded with a contemporary use of locally available materials such as the Gwalior stone and clay bricks (made in Chandigarh) and simple, yet dynamic geometric compositions in form. The huge mass of the building has been broken into smaller modules/fragments to create dynamism and shift away from the typical blocky/cubic approaches. The French windows break the monotony and bring in ample natural light.
The interior palette follows the same clean lines approach, wherein the richness of wood has been celebrated. An attempt has been made to imbibe an Indian colour palette and elements.
An earth cooling system has been optimised where the ventilated cooling system takes the hot air from the home through an underground pipe that, removes heat by picking up the moisture from the earth. This leaves behind the cool air to be distributed through the vents as air-conditioning, further reducing energy costs.
