Koba House

Koba, India

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Koba House

Koba, India

Firm

indigo architects

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2008

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Koba house - India

Site/Context

‘Koba house is situated on the banks of river Sabarmati, north of Ahmedabad, and part of koba village. The site is part of an undulating landscape of silt mounds that stretch along either sides of the Sabarmati river.

Program

The house was designed for a retired couple and their children who visit on weekends. The family entertains regularly and enthusiastically and the program responds by way of providing a variety of usages of spaces. Fundamental to the fit with this lifestyle, site and climatic context, thus, is the relationship between inside and outside.

Architectural response

The natural gradient towards the river has a balanced cut and fill to tuck the built form and to provide a visual barrier from the main approach.

The built form, comprises, a retaining wall that holds the excavated earth, forming a berm. The dining and bedroom spaces flank the sides of the central court, built in massive masonry walls.

The long sweeping verandah held between splayed exposed concrete end walls and supported by a light metal structure provides the shade and contrast.

The design uses a mix of defense (against the afternoon heat) and advance (towards the view) to achieve the fit. The house is aligned north east-south west with few walls exposed to the morning and afternoon sun. It backs up against (and cuts slightly into) an existing mound on site, which shields its north-western side from the sun. In addition, the service spaces- toilets, utilities, staircase etc- help insulate the living areas further.

An open courtyard is formed along a connecting passage between the kitchen-dining block and that housing the master bedroom.

The passage is completely open able to veranda and courtyard simultaneously which makes for a very airy central core. The central living area of the house is largely a transition space that is penetrable in many different directions. This multi-directional penetrability introduces a comforting ambiguity- between inside and outside, between formal living and informal lounging- into the core of the house.

The plan consciously attempts to weave together the ‘court’ and ‘verandah’ as elements to respond to higher than normal humidity, a significant departure from the ‘traditional’ hot-dry climatic response in the region. The prevailing breezes are channeled into the ‘sunken’ courtyard from the west, funneling it further across the verandah. The south and west sides are buffered spaces with services and passageways. The linear organization enables a transitional central passage way which unites all the built and un-built spaces within.

Materials/details

The spectacular view of the river and its curving bank further north are heightened through the verandah structure emerging out of R.C.C. shear walls which splay on both ends to anchor into the earth, 80 feet from the waters edge below. This is contrasted by the massive terracotta masonry walls towards the south and west which cup and shade spaces within.

The expressive qualities of these two materials are interspersed with a third element of light M.S steel structure supporting the verandah and the upper level passageway. The interplay of these elements provides a material vocabulary to the form.

The underside of the insulated metal roof is panelled with recycled wood and insulated with waste styrofoam pieces. The wood provides the much needed warmth that contrasts with the character of the exposed concrete and stucco.

The formal living area is visually linked with the rest of the verandah through simple transparent glass walls, layered from the sun with bamboo screens.

The massive brick walls define the sheltered lived in spaces. The concrete walls express the manner in which the building anchors itself on the river edge and the steel roof and support structure provide the much needed light canopy to shield from the sun and rain.