A Tall Man

Amidst the veritable architectural hall of fame that is the real estate of Alibag, this Nari Gandhi-designed red-brick house stands above its peers—much like the late architect himself.

- Snehal Gada

We’re driving through the narrow lanes of Korlai, a fishing village 20 kilometres south of Alibag, in search of a Nari Gandhi house, one of few built by the near-mythical architect—and among even fewer that have survived neglect and the real-estate boom. Arriving at the beach, we turn onto a road that runs along it, and there, half-hidden behind a cluster of other buildings, is the unmistakable peak of a roof that, though dressed in the same clay tiles as its neighbours, stands a metaphorical mile apart, and a head above; not unlike Nari himself, I imagine, for he was a tall man.

It’s difficult to describe his work in plain words, yet the allegory here is too apparent to avoid. The house is staged on an elevated platform, a beached boat of brick, with sandstone paving below echoing the beach behind and leading through a ribbed underbelly of archways and flying buttresses, past twin submersible-like bedrooms tucked into the landscape, and onto a sea of lawn at the far end. Having passed through this portal, a subtle line of force— evident only as a strip of grass flattened by repeated footsteps— directs movement along a gently modulated slope to the ‘upper’ deck. Framed by soaring segmental arches on either side, this primary space opens to vistas of shores both real and conceived; the filigree of voids that punctuate the masonry screens above produce a play of light from dawn to dusk. From here, one flight of cantilevered stone steps leads up to the crow’s-nest vantage of a wooden loft, while another spirals down to the kitchen, back to the carport and out to the main gate. The self-guided tour is complete.