DESIGN UNBOUND
Climate Responsive Design Using Sustainable Materials
Architecture | Interiors | Master planning | Landscape
Karad House
This residence in the city of Karad will be serving as a second home to the client, a simple religious family from Kolhapur. The brief involved designing a cozy home that blended with the context and was built sustainably at the same time. The material chosen is Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB) made out of laterite stone powder produced during the processing of laterite stone. These blocks offer both strength and durability to the house while the exposed texture make for a warm, organic aesthetic.
The planning involved creating smooth transitions between the various spaces. A cozy verandah with a swing shaded by pergolas lead to the living room with a conventional formal seating area and an informal, Indian seating area. both these areas together transition into the kitchen and dining area with a small waterbody and a staircase around it, placed at their point of transition. This courtyard including the waterbody and the surrounding planter acts as the heart of the house both in its positioning and significance. It plays an important role in keeping the house ventilated and cool by allowing air movement over the waterbody and makes for a passive design strategy.
The facades of the house are designed around the concept of 'ordered chaos'- creating patterns within randomness. The north facade has a series of tall, narrow openings along with a number of glass bricks embedded in the wall to allow maximum amount of diffused natural light into the house. The facade for the staircase at south side also presented an opportunity for creating an interesting elevation. Since the south face is the one to recieve harsh sunlight during daytime, a jaali using terracotta tiles is designed to cut the direct light entering the staircase.
The openings have been planned in such a way that there is maximum air movement through the house. Winds are prevalent majorly from the west and south west directions for this region. The front facade which happens to face the face the west has a number of openings optimally shaded to allow these winds to enter the house. The stair well along with the waterbody acts as a cooling tower, allowing the warm air to rise and escape via the ventilators at the top.
