When a client asks an architect to design a house, they frequently ask for “something different, yet simple”. “Frammed Earth House” might as well be named a bull’s eye. When D’well intervened, a typical Guajarati family of six desired a new house to replace their current one.
NAME: Jhanvi Mehta Shah/ Rakshit Shah
FIRM: D’WELL
CITY: Surat
STATE: Gujarat
The 3950 Sq. Ft. design was motivated by the desire to strike the ideal balance between tradition and modernity. This can be seen clearly in the methods employed, the materials utilized, as well as the historic home’s essences that have been tenderly preserved while taking into account the thoughts and disposition of the owners, who have a modern perspective but culturally very rooted.
The house meets a detailed requirement that calls for it to have four bedrooms, two living rooms—one on each of the first and second floors—as well as a kitchen, dining room, puja room, and parking on the ground floor. The house is surrounded by homes, leaving only the west façade for further exploration. Rammed-earth construction, a well-known but little employed sustainable technique, is strategically incorporated in the planning, which is one of its most remarkable features.
The resident’s deeply ingrained cultural way of life served as inspiration for the use of earthy materials. The master bedroom on the second level is positioned on the south-west as a cantilevered cube with rammed earth walls. The 14inch rammed earth walls which were exposed to the afternoon light, served as natural insulation to hold the temperature and give the room a predominately cold ambience. The stone granule texture used to finish the remainder of the building also makes a lovely contrast with earth walls. By adding an elevation frame around the protruding cube, the architectural appeal has also been made more aesthetically appealing, making it the focal point of the “Frammed” earth house.
Because of the homeowners’ friendliness and frequent interactions with their neighbourhood, the house layout might be categorized as extroverted. They frequently gather in lively common areas. The green plug-ins for ample air and ventilation, on the other hand, are crucial to the design. To emphasize this, features like skylights and beautifully carved out balconies have been added.
When creepers fall from the terrace’s pergolas, they provide a visibly perforated barrier for privacy in addition to offering an interesting sciography at various times of the day.
The cantilevered treading staircase has been finished in wood with a brass finish railing, and the furniture is made of smoked teak wood with dark tones that contrast with the flooring’s accents of beige. All of these warm colours exude an earthy feeling in the interiors.
