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.
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.
This story is from the March - April 2019 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
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This story is from the March - April 2019 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
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