Architects:Mazumdar Bravo

Area:7500ft²

Year:2024

Photographs:Suleiman Merchant

Category:Houses

Team:Udayan Mazumdar, Blanca Bravo Reyes, Gayatri Khedkar

Landscape Architecture:Hemali Landscape Studio (Hemali Samant, Mahek Malaviya)

Structure Engineer:Rajeev Shah & Associates

Mep Engineer:Hydrotech Consultants

General Contractor:United Projects

Landscape Contractor:Mahalaxmi Gardeners

City:Pawnanagar

Country:India

Text description provided by the architects. With breathtaking views of Pawna Lake and the Tikona and Tung forts, this house is designed to perform as backdrop architecture to the landscape, an arrangement of four compact structures that open up to - and showcase - the outdoors. The placement of the house on the site, right after the crest of the hill, under a landmark fig tree, ensures that the landscape comes first, the architecture second. The house reveals itself as a surprise, half hidden behind the trees, and yet captures the views, opening up towards the lake, where the house reveals its full height.

The structures are brought together on a single plinth, with steps and platforms that activate the in-betweens. These spaces are designed to be open yet purposeful - spaces for arrival, retreat, and play - an entrance, a verandah, and a patio for children with its own little amphitheatre.

Each individual structure is formed by very clear, elemental gestures - thick load-bearing walls for structure and thermal mass, deep roofs for shelter from the rain and sun, and large operable windows for views, light, and ventilation.

The simplicity of the design belies a radical way of living: all circulation is outdoors. Traditional corridors, pull-back spaces, verandahs, and courtyards merge into a continuum with the garden. The built structures overlap to create a house of houses where each family branch gets its own space while sharing all the social areas for a common family life lived outdoors.

Project gallery