The Gully Home / ED+ Architecture
+ 31
- Area:
6275 ft²
Year :
2022
Producers: Toto, Fantastic India, Freedom tree, Home Center, Kalinga stones, Light landscape, Nexion-
Principal Architects:
Ammaar Chowdry, Mridula S Chowdry
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Architecture and Interior Design:
Mano Bharathi, Sai Maalavika, Purva Bhende
Text description provided by the architects. Located at the end of a quiet residential street in Chennai, overlooking the sea – the project site called out for a house that opened up and offered to the surroundings, but also folded into its layers of privacy and barriers that protecting itself from the open environment The design brief was very simple and therefore made it much more challenging – a gift from a father to his daughter who was getting married, and the house would be the starting point of her new journey. The 39’x93′ linear plot has its larger side facing the sea front with a beautiful view of the Bay of Bengal. Like every beachfront property, a default requirement was to ensure that every part of the house had a view of the sea.
Design Planning. The entire house was elevated by 1.5 meters with a winding pedestrian approach through an entrance garden that guided the user into the house. The services and utilities such as the parking space, helper accommodation and battery back-up room are placed in a partial basement. The entrance garden takes the user into a small vestibule which leads one to a large great room. It is through this wonderful room that the project gets its name – “The Gully Home”. The great room takes its inspiration from a simple lively street (gutter) in the older parts of the city. The street is where all the residents gather – conversations happen, bonds are formed, and you hear the sound of laughter, children playing, and a whole lot of joy. Similarly, the great room is envisioned as where most of the happy memories of the users are made and is at the heart of all activities of the home. The triple-height space has an open-plan living-dining-kitchen layout, opening onto a linear garden with views of the sea beyond. Once inside the space, the users are cut off from the hustle and bustle of the city and enter a world of their own.
A conventional dwelling would involve floor levels stacked over three levels. But to further enhance vertical cross-connections, the floor plates are staggered by 5 feet on either side of the triple-height space, creating views into the great room from the other spaces. The floorboards are connected by an open metal dog-leg staircase with each flight leading the user to a bedroom. A set of internal bay windows from each bedroom look down into the great room, thus connecting the entire space, visually and physically. In addition to the internal patio windows, a set of exteriors project themselves out to get a 180 view of the sea with a small seating area making it a cozy reading/coffee nook.
The master bedroom has a set of private stairs leading to a private terrace between the foyer and the pool. The terrace gets a direct view of the sea to the front, the entrance garden to the right, and a bay window looking down into the great room to the left, making it truly a master space for the couple. The upper level houses the living room overlooking a swimming pool. The glazing is done in a way that once opened; the deck becomes part of the lounge connecting it directly to the pool. Finally, the upper level of the house is a sit-out terrace surrounded by brick jaalis that creates framed openings to the sea.
Bio-climatic design approach and materials. While the east-facing building works well to create direct views to the sea, it also faces the wrath of the hot morning sun which causes tremendous heat gain. The entire facade is double-skinned with a layer of porotherm blocks forming the inner core and half-cut bricks on either side. The use of natural clay material for the outer skin of the building has the effect of cooling the interior spaces and also retaining the heat within the walls instead of transferring it. Although this solves the heat gain within the area of solid walls, for expansive sea views it is essential to provide large glazing which will lead to heat gain within the spaces. A window system was designed where each window consisted of an inward opening glass shutter and an outer aluminum shutter with operable louvres. As a result the following 6 permutations were possible – 1. Completely closed with no visibility and ventilation 2. Completely open with sight and airflow 3. Visually open but no airflow 4. Partial visibility with 50% airflow 5. No visibility with 25% airflow 6. 50% Visibility with no airflow. This system allows the user to change the experience within the room based on the requirement and usability.
The interior walls are also a combination of cut bricks and lime plaster walls which continue the materiality from outside to inside. The floor is a natural polished kota, which reflects heat and stays cool throughout. The bedrooms are finished with terrazzo floors of different patterns. The roof of a building usually contributes to the majority of the heat gain. To minimize this, the slabs are therefore double insulated by inserting terracotta pots as fillers which also reduce the volume of concrete used in the slabs. The roof of the terrace is covered with solar panels, so the whole house can be operated with only solar power.
Interior design. The Gully Home is a one-off project where the architecture completely defines its interiors. With an inside-out connection, there is no difference between the outside and inside material. Cut brick cladding and lime-plastered walls together with exposed concrete structural elements form the main interior materials. The terracotta pots on the ceiling highlight these materials and add an interesting touch to the space. No false ceiling is used inside the house and all the slabs are exposed concrete. The furniture is a combination of wood with fabric and cane to continue the rustic theme inside the house. Most of the furniture is custom made with artisans and designed according to the specific requirements of the users. The Gully Home is an attempt to reimagine how modern family life can exist in a sustainable way. It is a house that is contextually rooted and responsive to all surrounding architectural and climatic requirements, thus making it an embodiment of climate responsive and functional design principles.
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