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Sprawling tea gardens in the lap of nature are mostly located miles away from township hubs and civilization. The tea estate, therefore, is a very secluded but self sustainable community where all essential commodities and facilities are created for the inhabitants. Facilities pampering both the body and the mind are the essence for adaptation to a lifestyle away from the usual hub and din of an urban setting. The individual gradually comes to terms and love his settings amidst the lap of nature.
The design principal for a tea estate is based on the above doctrine.
The manager's and director's units are in close proximity due to easier supervision of the director's quarters by the manager who is a permanent resident.
The salient principals of the design are:
CLIENT'S BRIEF:
Sankalpa – ongoing
This residential complex in Rajarhat is the fruit of a prize-winning national-level competition entry in 2006, organized by the WBIDFC. It is part of a larger controlled neighborhood, with building controls being in the form of both spatial layout and height restrictions. The site is situated at the junction of major arterial roads, and hence dictated the creation of a landmark development, a statement for the new face of Kolkata forming an imposing gateway. Whilst in sync with the surrounding neighbourhood, the development creates a dynamic form that commands attention form is distance.
Sankalpa comprises of four separate land parcels, which accommodate sixteen towers of varying heights from 15 to 24 floors, and a community block. The land configuration itself presents the unique problem of creating a cohesive development whilst simultaneously providing all facilities for each site to function independently of each other. The development caters to higher and medium income levels, with the provision of apartments, duplexes and penthouses. Maximum utilization of the open area has been made with the provision of multiple recreation options. Facilities like health clubs, recreational centres, clinics, book stores, specialty restaurants, swimming pools and a convention centre have been incorporated. Parking requirements have been met with basement level parking below a raised green podium that also acts as a spillover space for the recreational club and tot lots for children. Basement parking levels allow the penetration of light through cut-outs at the podium level, thus ensuring security within the basement as well.
Climatic considerations have been kept paramount, with the orientation of blocks maximizing light in living areas, optimization of positioning of windows, cross-ventilation within units, reduction of an heat island effect by providing 30% green surfaces, façade treatments in the form of light-coloured paints, vertical fins, chajjahs and window boxes. The landscaping has also been given utmost thought with shaded walkways, playgrounds, shaded parking lots and terrace gardens all within the comfort of a vehicular-free zone.
The provision of a definite number of residential units often results in a certain monotony in the builtform, especially as this limits the arrangement of solids and voids and other massing elements. This has been partially mitigated by the creation of an assembly of frames and solid blocks above the roof incorporating the lift machine rooms and stair mumties. This has created a very specific architectural vocabulary of its own, proving a very definite signature stamp to the whole development. The sculptural towers of varying heights with a convergent spire aspires to reach the sky and resembles rising hills that tower above the surrounding neighbourhood of dense urban fabric.
×Built-up area: 5,5149.73 sq.m
Project Cost: Rs. 53.42 Crores
Date of completion: October 2009
Hiland Woods - 2009
This complex, one of the earliest in the newly formed Rajarhat township had to be constructed in a shoestring budget to attract buyers in a new locality with limited infrastructure. Inspite of this handicap, the challenge was to create a green campus with options for outdoor activities keeping in mind the socio-economic segregation in the LIG, MIG and HIG section too. While the low rise LIG users enjoy intimate integration with the outdoor space through spacious courtyards with surrounding corridors, the MIG category enjoys the luxury of a roof top community hall, club and also a swimming pool. The HIG towers too maintain its exclusivity with its own roof top entertainment zone complete with club and swimming pool. This complex introduced the novel concept of low rise townhouses with its own exclusively green patch. Parking provisions have been met with creation of a semi basement with voids for ventilation and landscaped patches. A green podium has thus been created within the townhouse complex. The entire complex is bound by a street network around a central playfield with each cluster having its exclusive green patches for outdoor enjoyment.
×A two level living unit in a stylish apartment block has been transformed into a magical space by the imaginative eyes of the architect. The apartment block, designed by the architect himself, is a contemporary expression in exposed terracotta and rough plasterwork that blends with the natural surroundings. This earthy feeling of the exterior has flown into the interior spaces and hence the inner space has evolved around a landscaped garden courtyard. The central theme of transformation is transparency and translucency of the spaces that open out in layers as one steps in. Two individual apartment units place one on top of the other has been given a vertical connectivity by the centrally located small garden atrium. This small patch of green is the focal point of the residence wherein all the living spaces catch a glimpse of this oasis. Use of glass and the foliage have provided both the transparency and the translucency to the spaces flowing out. The profuse use of hanging planters have given a sense of extension of the garden such that the private upper floor dedicated towards family room and bedroom quarters enjoy the garden too.
The architect has shown preference to the use of local materials like bamboo and cane for flooring materials and paneling. The interior style adopted is functional in nature and eclectic in style. For the creation of a warm, personalized space the furniture used are a combination of both bought out and designed items. The artifacts displayed include original paintings of Ganesh Pyne, Ramanando Bandopadhyay, Piraji Sagar, Shuvaprasanna to name a few, paintings by his elder daughter and a few young artists, hand embroidered carpets, dokras and terracotta figurines depicting the tradition of Bengal and a small collection of local art collected by the architect during his various trips abroad.
The effect created is a modern, functional space that oozes warmth for its vibrant little garden, its warm tones of bamboo and cane and the colourful myriad of artifacts that evoke a personalized space and a simple artistic ambience.
The first phase of A.W.H.O housing complex ,accessed through a narrow neck on V.I.P Road ,was designed in consideration of the economic budget specified by the client and the height restriction imposed as the site falls in the air funnel. The result was a predominantly low rise block of apartments with minimal finish and site rendition.
Phase-II Complex , abutting on the wide newly constructed New Town - Rajarhat Connector has an expansive frontage which will be utilized to its fullest advantage through the built form and elaborate landscape proposals.
This site is more commercially viable for its abutment on the Rajarhat Connector and hence the overall ambience and specification has been enhanced.
Though the imposed height restrictions have led to greater ground coverage and unrealisation of the total F.A.R, care has been taken to create pockets of greenery and interactive spaces for the benefit of inhabitants.
Apartment type I : 1200-1250 sqft
Apartment type II : 1500-1550 sqft
Apartment type III : 1750-1800 sqft
Apartment type IV : 2000-2200 sqft
Babylon apartments during its inception was a futuristic design - a far cry from the mundane box like concrete structures sprouting over the city.
Plan is based on a rigid module of 27 squares and each floor is punched out on the footplate, creating structural setbacks, recesses, protrusions and cut-outs in different floors.
The skeleton simple framework finds pre-dominance and floor setbacks and protrusions on different locations in the south and the east create a vision of a vertical garden in an otherwise constricted site.
Babylon Apartments - 1985
This apartment block represents the traditional standalone high-rise residential tower prevalent all over the world. Although the design criteria are very typical, the architect's response certainly is not. Standalone towers are often restricted by the need to provide a specific number of rooms of definite functions, placed in locations which are economically the most viable (e.g. service and circulation cores). They also generally cater to one specific category of clientele, which restricts the user-need and hence variety of the development as the form is automatically derived from these factors.
The architect has been able to circumnavigate these restraints however, and has designed an inspired solution to them, unique for Kolkata as the time. He has created for the final user, where form most definitely follows functions. But aesthetics are certainly not secondary; the clean lines, eloquent balance of solid and void and co-ordinated proportions of the building speak volumes of his dedication towards the marrying of form and function. The fluctuating quality of the building profile, as elements change from floor to floor, gives it a certain distinction. Despite the asymmetrical design, the plan is based on a rigid module, with punched out floors giving the structure numerous set-backs, recesses, protrusions and cut-outs, so that each floor has been able to defy the norm of standardization. Due to space being at a premium in standalone site, the architect has incorporated vertical greens within the block. The staggered terraces on each floor offer a green luxury, each garden facing south or east to make maximum use of sunlight. Thus he has been mindful of climatological aspects as well in his design.
×This development is another novel solution in standalone apartments in the 1990s before the advent of gated communities. The targeted user group is the high end buyer whose aspirations have been achieved through through the introduction of shifting green terraces at all the levels and limited entertainment options like a club, swimming pool and tennis court at the ground level that was possible with carefully thought out vehicular movement pattern. The soothing combination of blue glass mosaic tiles and pristine white painted façade to delineate the projected and scooped out massing is striking without being ostentatious and blends with the neighbourhood.
×The house is located in a neighbourhood of period buildings with lime washed finish and slanting terracotta tiled roof typical of small towns in central India. The architecture delineation is based on the existing traditional elements with the innovations in the sun shading devices over the window openings
The form consists of interlocking squares which accommodates all the living spaces with the central square having a distinct slanting tiled roof with wide overhangs .The roof space, the perforated parapets, cornices and stucco surface is a creative expression echoing its surroundings.
The house has basically two levels with the living and dining spaces at the ground level and the private areas area at the upper level.
The ground coverage has been kept at a minimum to maximize the landscape spaces.
The external form had been kept as a simple composition of solids and voids and interpenetration of volumes to bring in a relation between the external and internal spaces .The external façade rendered in exposed brickwork and plaster.
