Sitting amidst sprawling green surroundings,EnrootRestaurant captures the spirit of the rural landscape through the grains, textures and unevenness inherent of its locally sourced constituent materials and its inspirations from the local arts, crafts and culture.
Project Name: Enroot restaurant
Studio Name: Studio Svarup
Status: Built
Client: Anekant Group
Location: on NH24, Azadpur Mafi, Distt. Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, India
Built up area: 1,500 square feet
Site Area: 20 Acres
Principal Architect: Arnav Mathur
Team: Divyaa Saxena, Siddharth Bansal
Consultants: Sudhir Banga (kitchen)
Awards: Winner Architecture Ideas 2.0 at FoAID 2016, Winner A’DesignAward 2017
The south, east and west sides have horizontal louvers to partially block the harsh sun, yet let in the breeze. Using materialsalvaged from scrap wood blocks, the parallel horizontal lines of the louvers running around the building hold together the composition, while lending it a serene Zen-like character.The exterior walls sportochre-coloured plaster, applied unevenly by hand, creating a finish alluding to the mud-plastered village house.
The choice of integrally coloured cement mix for this ensures that the finish is much more durable than mud plaster while at the same time eliminating the need for exterior paint.
The architect made it a point to extensively employ local craftsmanship in the interiors, and worked directly with the Kumhaar (Potter) and the Baan karigar (Rope weave craftsmen) to develop unique hand-crafted elements for the interiors. Earthenware such as kullad and matkas are used in unconventional ways as decorative elements, jute panels suspended from the ceiling hold LED downlights, and balls of sutli rope are used as lamps.
The furniture too was designed and fabricated using up-cycled scrap wood.
A large wall painting in the Warli style that adorns one of the walls summarises the entire theme – rural life as one big celebration in contrast with the busy urban humdrum. Enroot exhibits sustainability in not only using local materials, but also in adding value to the crafts of the region, by involving the local craftspersons and presenting their craft to the world in innovative ways.
ARCHITECT DIVYA
ARCHITECT ARNAV
