SHADOW TRANSCRIPTS

What is architecture? In this Ahmedabad home, Khushnu Panthaki and Sonke Hoof of Studio SANGATH draft a dialogue on art, memory and the role of inhabitation

- NAMRATA DEWANJEE

Sunlight dappled on the monolithic envelope, as Sonke tells us, “A facade is not about the image, it is about the volume,” explaining how rather than a front lawn, the 13,000 sq ft home chooses to look inwards. Having followed the designer outside in the sweltering sun, barefoot (with ample regret), the sound of gurgling water near the entrance seemed all too welcoming.

We eventually make our way inside. A garden peeks from the side. (Perhaps later, we were melting from the heat.) The space delivered no easy answers to my questions — its narrative intertwined in subtle gestures, crafted in stillness and surprises. An enigma, in more ways than one. Outside, the pigeons roost in trees that predate the built form. Inside is a playscape of light and shadow.

How does architecture shift from material space into life’s witness and eventually into its participant? This villa in Ahmedabad by Khushnu Panthaki and Sonke Hoof of Studio SANGATH is a conversation on art, memory and some discoveries.

“Unlike most houses where you enter directly from a vestibule into a living space, here you walk through the heart of the house to get to the living space. It’s very much like in traditional houses where there used to be a courtyard,” muses Khushnu.

“We always go back to historical references because that’s the way we have been working, even my grandfather always used to do that,” she continues. The idea of an aangan morphs into a series of courtyards at various levels and patches of verdure inside.

As we ascend the staircase, Sonke points to how it shares a resemblance to a street with all the living spaces looking in. However, looking into the living space is where it gets deceptive.

The three-layered oak wood jaali cuts the direct line of sight, offering privacy in the interiors. “From outside, you can never tell if someone is home!” says the designer.