Aravali Expanse

Nestled into a curve of the Aravalis, this country home outside the NCR, designed for old clients & now friends, attempts to blend into the surroundings with its external palette of muted grey exposed concrete and rough locally sourced stone walls in a  resolutely simple and straight lined contemporary form.

Wide expanses of glazed openings capture the stunning views of the Aravali range to the house’s East and North as also open onto a profusion of external spaces in the form of screened courtyards & open patios and gardens.

Given the arid zone with hot summers and very cold winters as well as the initially immature landscape, care was taken to weave in passive climatic approaches in the design. The L shaped plan is oriented with openings largely on the North & South while the bedroom wing overlooks the East morning sun. The length of the West elevation is minimized in the long arm or protected by heavy thick stone walls with the passage as a baffle along the shorter bedroom arm. Deep cantilevers on all sides provide shading -the width carefully designed to let in angled winter sun from the South. Water bodies interspersed all over into the landscape provide for winds to be cooled.

The living spaces of the house are characterized by an airy open plan nature with large glazings all around. The amalgamated living space opens onto a courtyard on the South screening the house from the parking area & staff quarters while the North side opens onto a deep verandah deck overlooking the Aravalis.

More conventionally walled bedrooms nevertheless have large openings onto the Aravali  while each of the bathrooms has a private garden court.

The internal finishes continue the muted grey theme offset by wood detailing with pops of colour especially selected by the owners.