Woven Around a Courtyard

Project: House in the Farm, Arur, Zaheerabad Architects: Studio Inscape, Hyderabad

Ar. Chaitanya Padal Ar. Kinnera Varma Ar. Radha Neela

The farmhouse has been woven around an existing tree in the farmland of 19 acres with a built-up area of about 2600sq ft. The home has been designed around a visually connected courtyard from all spaces without losing the linearity of the space as the client brief. Compressed stabilized earth blocks made from clay of the farm land, ergonomically designed sill levels, multi-functional non-rigid furniture layouts, human scale relatability, materiality are the factors that make the project sustainable and enhances the user experience.

The clients were a couple and the brief which they gave was contradicting with each other. The lady of the house wanted a traditional courtyard house with rooms around it, but her husband felt that a linear house would be more functional. So, the challenge here was to design a courtyard house while still retaining the linearity of the space. Introducing a central connecting linear corridor along the court satisfied both the briefs of having a linear house and a courtyard house at the same time.

Design Ideology: A Subtle Foreground to the Nature’s Backdrop

The design visualization is to let the house merge and do the talking to the natural surroundings which is the backdrop to the house rather than it being the dominant characteristic overpowering its surroundings.