THE HOME WITHOUT A FORM

This architectural project by Architect and Founder of Design Ni Dukaan Veeram Shah took nine years to complete, and was an excercise in self-exploration

Project: Enclosure House, Himatnagar; Architects: Design Ni Dukaan, Ahmedabad

A spiritual journey is an inquiry into one's own existence, or rather an inquiry into existence and non-existence and the relation between the two, culminating in the realisation of pure existence beyond inquiry. Founder and Creative Director of Ahmedabad-based, multi-disciplinary design studio Design Ni Dukaan, Veeram Shah's latest architectural masterpiece "Enclosure" spread across 2,137 square metres - has been no different, and perhaps the most important learning has been one of self-negation.

How does one design a formless house? This was the primary enquiry from which the conceptual foundation for the project was generated. This led to the designer questioning the very basis of built forms. This caused a shift in the designer's perception that resulted in an inside-out approach to the design, wherein the experience of space from second skin wrapped around the structure, holding the separate parts together and defining a series of courtyards that are intrinsic to the experience of the house. And so, it became a house without elevations, an inward-looking "Enclosure" located in India's Western state Gujarat's quaint town Himmatnagar, the administrative headquarters of Sabarkantha district.