<h5-red>CLIENT:<h5-red> WITHHELD I <h5-red>AREA:<h5-red> 4,500 SQ FTI <h5-red>STATUS:<h5-red> COMPLETED IN 2023 I <h5-red>TEAM:<h5-red> AMBRISH ARORA, ANUSHA PULAPAKA, CHRISTOPHER GERHARDT, HARSH VARDHAN KUMAWAT I <h5-red>PHOTOGRAPHER:<h5-red> ISHITA SITAWALA | THE FISHY PROJECT
The Jor Bagh House is located on a quiet trapezoidal corner plot, abutting a park brimming with Gulmohar and Neem trees. The design team used the odd shape as an opportunity to restrict the entire vehicular movement into the stilt through the service lane at the rear of the plot, and opened the front setback to a garden and pedestrian path that connects to the public road and garden beyond.
<rt-red>The form of the building is a nod to the enduring legacy of the Bauhaus movement—smooth, curvilinear surfaces forming an integral element of its design vocabulary.<rt-red> The white sweeping profile of the front facade—with its beveled, rounded terraces—borrows from the facade of the older buildings of the neighbourhood, seeking to blend in rather than stand out.
The residence is divided into three separate apartments over four floors in an open, interactive format that draws on the typical Delhi Garden bungalow typology. The lower two floors each comprise a single apartment, with the third unit spread over the top two levels. <rt-red>The layout responds to the limitation of the narrow front facade by scooping out trapezoidal voids in the residence’s front and rear to admit light and create cross-ventilation through the deep plan.<rt-red> Within the home, slim thermally broken sliding windows selectively frame views of the rich tree canopies outside, establishing a seamless connection with the outdoors, celebrating it as a natural backdrop for the home.
The interiors comprise a clean, neutral material palette. <rt-red>Deep, black, leather-finished Hyderabad granite flooring contrasts with the lighter colours of the exposed concrete ceiling and white plastered walls forming a monochromatic canvas for the bespoke millwork and furniture populating the residence.<rt-red> Inspired by the Bauhaus and mid-century strains of the architecture, these have been designed by the owners and painstakingly hand-crafted by Mangrove Collective in oil-finished timber, metal, stone, concrete and natural fabrics.
The artwork is a collection of memories from the owners’ travels, and gifts from artist friends and family from across the globe. This mélange of texture and nostalgic form evokes a sense of warm comfort in the home; of lived memories and emotion that goes far beyond the visual.
