Brick By Brick

In the ferocious summers of Surat, DWG Architects zeroed in on a large brick curtain wall as a device to deflect the heat of the sun from this bungalow. The notable architectural calisthenics superbly combine form with function.

- Devyani Jayakar

It is a truth universally acknowledged that we cannot change climate. Cognisant of this fact, “we can only react to climate,” says Dinesh Suthar of DWG Architects. When Dinesh was asked to design a home in Surat for a gentleman whose life’s blood was social work, he realised that the house should be recognisable right from afar, since it would be visited by at least 20–50 people every day.

But simply making an empty design statement bereft of meaning is not something Dinesh subscribes to. “The plot faced southwest, but overlooked nothing significant. There simply wasn’t a view to look out onto.” So with nothing to lose but much to gain, he put his mind to a solution which would reduce the heat gain from the southwest, even while it became the very identity of the house.

“The west was exposed to the sun from 11am till sunset. The harsh sun had to be controlled,” says Dinesh. “In the south, we could create a 2.5 metre overhang to solve the problem, but for the design of the façade in the front, we did a good deal of research followed by several experiments.”

This involved studying brick architecture… the way the porous, local material functioned in traditional structures. “We conducted many studies with different sizes of bricks, to determine what was viable,” says Dinesh. “We also noticed that in Rajasthan, the jaali is used to great effect, with a variation in its depth for different results.