Project Fact File: Casa Feliz, Alibaug
Project Casa Feliz
Location Sasawane, Alibaug
Project Area In sqft 10,000 & sq mtr 929.03
Type of project
( Residential /
Commercial/Hospitality/Bungalow)
Residential
COMPLETION OF PROJECT February 2020.
CONCEPT
CASA FELIZ- the threshold story, tropical lifestyle and a
design subservient to nature.
“The strong willingness of standing on a threshold, the crossing of
which would transcend you into a placate world”.
A strong need of a connection, change and unlearning (learning’s and
experience of urban world) calls for a creation of such a threshold in
the built form. A meandering driveway around dense cluster of existing
trees inaugurates your connection with nature and ultimately reveals
the front facade of the house. The unforeseeable scale of a 20 feet
wide main steel entrance door set in a punctuated brick facade,
redefines scale and acts as a divider between the outside and the
inside world. It is this physical threshold that disconnects you from the
mundane of the world and at the same time embarks placidness.
Passing through this portal one feels purged of their non-tangible
baggage hence reinforcing the concept of a threshold.
Considering the offerings by the sheer location of the site, the coast,
the weather, the dense landscape, the smell of greens, the pleasant
visuals of perennial blooms became the perfect ingredients for a
tropical lifestyle and a building approach which is cultural conscious
and cohesive to the tropics.
The villa set in the quaint little coastal town of Alibaug to the south of
Mumbai promises a perfect getaway. This 10,000 sq.ft contemporary
house spreads itself on a 2acre site which is blessed by nature with
dense flora and a small water body on its south east. Paying respect
to the prevailing flora on site the master
plan takes birth by surrounding the house around the major cluster of
trees and a squarish manicured courtyard then becomes the epicentre
of the house. This courtyard hosting palms and mounds of green is
held by two ‘L’ shaped building blocks. This court provides visuals to
the surrounding public spaces and the circulation corridor on its
periphery. These two blocks strike a very contrasting nature, one
being solid and the other being permeable. The material palette of the
house has a monolithic character, the clay bricks bring in the required
warmth and the use of metal elements brings in the sharpness and
contemporary look. Larger than life artefacts and tectonic petrified
wood centre table become some of the protagonist in the house.
The elevated swimming pool edged in dressed stone masonry is
detached from the structure by a gravel deck giving it a vibe of a
natural oasis.
The house concentrates on encompassing nature all around, hence
blurring the boundaries of the inside outside experience.