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ahsan ansari's lecture at design talk

17th feb '06 in mumbai, india 

click here to read architect ahsan ansari's lecture at design talk on feb 17 in mumbai

Good evening friends,

Let me take this quick opportunity to thank everyone at the Indian Institute of Interior Designers (IIID) for giving me this platform to showcase some of my works.

Rather than presenting a wide variety of works I want to show you 3 projects that are different from each other but indicative of a range of opportunities available to us as architects.

1. The first one is an architectural project, a tropical weekend house in Kashid.
2. The second is a retail store in Mumbai.
3. The third is my own office space at Opera House.


Geoffrey Bawa once said,
“When one delights as much as I do in planning a building & having it built, I find it impossible to describe the exact steps in an analytical or dogmatic way. I have a very strong conviction that it is impossible to explain architecture in words, I have always enjoyed seeing buildings but seldom enjoyed reading about them. Architecture cannot be totally explained but must be experienced”.


Slide 2

This house perched on a hillock is situated in Kashid, where the scenery keeps shifting as the road progresses, sometimes hugging the shore line, sometimes climbing up thickly wooded slopes & climbing down again offering stunning glimpses of unseen horizons in coastal Maharashtra. The beaches are set in gentle curves of the coast & thickly wooded hills on one end & low rocky cliffs on the other. The dense green forest on the higher slopes add colour to the scene & provide a fascinating backdrop.

This view is the west side of the house over looking the far away Arabian sea & the evening dipping sun, intersected by green & water logged paddy fields. The master bedroom on the left & the living room on the right is wrapped almost all around by a deep verandah propped by a row of wooden pillars. This deep verandah provides perfect shade from the sharp evening sunlight, that bathes the house.

The perched up roof in the centre is the library which is the only room having windows opening on the east & the west. The library is the only space which is on an upper level. The large roof is sharply reflected in the clear water in the fore ground. This pool wraps itself around an existing tree. It is finished in sand, coloured IPS & one end of it is a walk in pool reminiscent of the waves & the beach far away.

Slide 3.

The other end is a knife edge where the water appears to dissolve into the grey ocean.

Slide 4/5/6/7.

The approach to the house is from the east side, up a gravel drive way that is flanked by trees & boulders. While carving the road out of the landscape we came across all these boulders that were result of our excavation. It occurred to me that these rocks too should belong on the site & I incorporated them into the sides of the drive way.

As a result the house appears nestled among the natural landscape, an integral part of the natural surroundings rather than a construction imposed upon the space.

Now the house reveals itself slowly rather than being visible all at once, retaining an element of surprise. I feel the element of surprise very important in architecture . The magic actually lies in the eyes of the beholder who experiences different aspects with his different senses. This house too reveals it’s self in little vignettes. As you enter the main entrance a small courtyard with a lotus pool greets you.

Slide 8

it’s interesting to understand architecture of water. How the liquid acts & reacts with our senses & most of all how it’s symbolism relates to us as human beings. (whenever we include water in our compositions we are sure to plunge into a treasure chest of physical characteristics, legends & allegories to enhance designs).

Slide 9/10/11/12
Unlike houses where the main entrance leads on to a living room this entrance is a surprise… u enter a long verandah flanked by a lotus pond on 1 side and a large courtyard on the otherside.

Courtyards are among the most indigenous of architectural features. legends has it that ancient cultures, those with history that settled around rivers incorporated courtyard open to the sky to worship the Gods of nature.
Courtyards are found all over the world & yet each culture gives it their own unique interpretation. Climatologically in tropical countries courtyards play a crucial role in ventilating areas & keeping houses cool. They act as air shafts directing channels of air upwards & allowing cooler warm air to circulate among living spaces.

On the right of the main entrance there is a large courtyard which forms the central focus of the house surrounded by verandahs on 3 sides. We had the idea of using rocks and boulders from the site to create a sculptural installation & placed next to them is a traditional tulsi plant.

Slide 13

The fourth side of this main courtyard is actually a series of louvered shutters that unfold to reconnect the house with its external environment .

Slide 14/15

I wanted to step away from the notion of corridors/verandahs being only transitional spaces and dining spaces being four walled enclosure and therefore the dining area sits beautifully in this wide verandah overlooking the courtyard planted with supari trees (which are the most common cash crop of the region). The dining remains very much a part of the central space making the dining experience interacting with the other activities of the house.

Slide 16/17

Kitchens and storage areas are the reality of all Architects life! The challenge is to create a well planned functional spaces that are integral to the house, asthetic to eye and practical in their placement.
In this house I used a wall to clearly segregate the utility areas from the main house. The utility areas are linked to the main verandah by a walk way over the lotus pool.

Slide 18/19/20/21

The living room is tucked away at the far end of the verandah and opens onto the view of the pool and the sea beyond. The living room has two unique features 1) the roof above is pitched to a height of 30’-0”. 2) The space is completely devoid of walls. The result is an open space with an unending view of the landscape surrounding it.
The decision to do away with all the walls happened completely oraganically. I was at the site with the client and as we stepped into the living space we experienced the magic of the view unhampered by walls. At this point I must tell you an interesting detail of how we measured spaces. My client who was 6’-0” tall used his own proportions as a benchmark of understanding the dimensions of each space and would calculate the scale in multiples of himself !

Slide 22

Technically the house has two bedrooms. a guest room with its own private verandah and a view of the reflecting pool on the east side of the house and

Slide 23

the vast master bedroom with the view of the pool and the ocean. But in practice, the house has several small intimate resting spaces that guests often appropriate as their very own.

Slide 24/25

My clients are voracious reader and wanted a private retreat within the house which would be his exclusive domain and therefore library space tucked under the roof is accessible only from within the master bedroom. An the interesting feature is that this staircase originates inside and wraps around the outer wall of the bedroom into the living space. One wall is lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves and the eclectic
choice of books lining the shelves is a testimony to the minds of people my clients are!

The other wall is a series of wooden shutters that unfolds to reveal the master bedroom below. The library is the only space that has a view of both sides east and west.

Slide 26/27

One window has a view of the paddy fields and the ocean beyond, while the other overlooks the central courtyard of the house and the forest hills at a distance.

Slide 28/29/30/31/32/33

The master bathroom was designed to be extremely palatial in its proportions being more like the size of a room than a bathroom. A free standing wall segregates the walk in closet area from the main bathroom while the bath tub (which was created on site in IPS and sunken into the ground) overlooks yet another private courtyard.

Slide

Throughout this home we chose to use a natural palate of reddish brown earth, dark woods and motlled ivory pebbles in keeping with the natural colours of the landscape itself. the internal roof is made of timber and manglore tiles and I had a very enjoyable trip to kerala to buy this erul wood. Erul wood is a hard wood used extensively in kerala for this kind of construction. We took this one step forward an even used the roofers themselves from kerala. one of the most enjoyable aspects of our works is the ability to experiment to work with different materials, textures and forms.

For example many people are hesitant to use shahabad stone an inexpensive stone used largely for waterproofing. As flooring we felt that the colour variation in the stone lent itself beautifully to the kashid landscape colours. We went ahead and used this stone and despite apprehension from suppliers who said the stone was unpolishable. We machine polished the floor, even now , four years later the floor gleams. In keeping with the mood there are high kerala style wooden beds and brass ceiling fans that sways from the high rafters.
My client’s signature is evident in the bright handwoven cottons she used to upholster the benches and chairs that are placed around the house.

While the house has changed and evolved as the plants have grown and the owners have used the space one unchanging element remains the roof protective, emphatic & all important governing the aesthetics,whatever the period, whatever the place. The roof, its shape, texture & proportion is the strongest visual factor.

Before I end with this house presentation I would like to share with you what someone wrote after visiting this house: “ our senses are swirling as we lie replete in the lapping waters of the swimming pool. We listen to the bullfrogs and gaze upon this home that is defined by its freedom from walls, and roofs, and the pretentions of the city we have left behind.

And it is in this moment that the truth comes to us: we have no need for words because this sanctuary speaks for itself.”

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