cjwho:Copper House II, India by Studio Mumbai | via The hortus conclusus unites within itself a ma
cjwho: Copper House II, India by Studio Mumbai | via The hortus conclusus unites within itself a marvellous assemblage of disparate aspects. It seeks to understand the landscape it denies, explain the world it excludes, bring in the nature it fears and summarise all this in an architectural composition. The severe flood of Mumbai and its hinterland in 2005 had marked its high-water mark on a pump-house that was extant to the site. Aftet using it to register the datum for the house, pile foundations were put in and a slab was cast two feet above the high-water line. The central fill came from the excavation for the well, and around a court, the house grew. The language and logic of the building are located in three primary architectural moves. The first is the creation of two distinct blocks, varying in width by a foot, separated by the stone-paved courtyard on the ground, and united by the cupric roof plane at the upper level. The two blocks function as discrete personal spaces on the upper level, one is a singular space of bedroom and bath, the other has an additional study. At the ground level, an indoor family room becomes an adjunct to the main living space which does not have the containment that the other more private spaces exhibit. This main space functions literally as the deck of the house, overlooking the landscape and the courtyard, creating a simultaneity of vistas, each of a different scale and access. The copper-covered private spaces at the upper level are positioned in mutual tension, with the guarantee of simultaneous intimacy and isolation, so essential to the domestic interior. CJWHO: facebook | instagram | twitter | pinterest | subscribe -- source link