Example of technical inventiveness and harmony. Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo
18/08/2021.
[Brahmanghar - Pune] India
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Shah houses, designed by Anupama Kundoo, sit near one of the oldest dams in Maharashtra (is a gravity dam constructed by the British) on Velvandi river near Brahmanghar, south of the populous city of Pune, India.
This pair of houses are built from natural basalt stone -a readily available material in the area- and locally crafted terracotta tubes, using an ancestral technique developed by the architect.
This pair of houses are built from natural basalt stone -a readily available material in the area- and locally crafted terracotta tubes, using an ancestral technique developed by the architect.
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
Site plan. Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo.
Ground floor plan. Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo.
First floor plan. Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo.
Cross section. Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo.
Longitudinal section. Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo.
Works in progress. Shah Houses by Anupama Kundoo. Photograph by Javier Callejas
The Shah houses, designed by Anupama Kundoo, are an example of technical inventiveness, harmony and low cost, techniques already developed in other projects such as Wall House. The complex, in addition to the main residences, is made up of another series of facilities such as the caretakers' homes and a cylindrical water tank.
The houses are organized thanks to three and two large vaults, respectively, which cover the social spaces, while the more private spaces such as facilities and bedrooms are located in the intermediate spaces that function as thick walls or buttresses of the vaults.
The houses are organized thanks to three and two large vaults, respectively, which cover the social spaces, while the more private spaces such as facilities and bedrooms are located in the intermediate spaces that function as thick walls or buttresses of the vaults.
Project description by Anupama Kundoo
Built at the edge of a river on agricultural land, the complex is shared by two residences.
Natural basalt stone is chosen as the primary locally available building material and combined with handmade terracotta hollow tubes for vaulted roofs as already used in the Wall House. Apart from their main residences, the site includes collective shared buildings accommodating caretakers’ residences merged within the design of the compound wall in stone masonry and a cylindrical water tank, also in stone masonry.
The residences themselves, are composed of alternative massive construction of stone masonry volumes interspersed with vaulted volumes of space that are visually more transparent, the vaults spanning the spaces between the massive stone masses. The underneath spaces of the vaulted spaces are thus used for the more social spaces such as living and dining areas, while the more private areas are accommodated within the stone walls. This strategy allows the continuous view of the waterfront through the selected axes of the house, from areas located higher up in the sloping terrain.
The ground floor spaces are contoured to hug the sloping site with sequences of steps that cascade along the territory and continue through the house into the immediate exteriors. As a contrast to the natural colours and textures of the key materials of terracotta and basalt stone, coloured oxides on selected plastered surfaces and floors provide the counterpoint of contrast in colours and textures, and complete the soothing environment of a refuge in the natural landscape away from the megacity.
More information
Architects
Design team
Anupama Kundoo, Yashoda Joshi.
Collaborators
Structural engineer.- Zarna Barday.
Contractor
Vilas Vare Constructions and Sekar Sokkalingam
Dates
2011-2015.
Location
Brahmanghar, al sur de la ciudad de Pune, India.
Photography
Anupama Kundoo
Anupama Kundoo’s internationally recognised and award-winning architecture practice started in 1990, demonstrates a strong focus on material research and experimentation towards an architecture that has low environmental impact and is appropriate to the socio-economic context. Kundoo has built extensively in India and has had the experience of working, researching and teaching in a variety of cultural contexts across the world: TU Berlin, AA School of Architecture London, Parsons New School of Design New York, University of Queensland Brisbane, IUAV Venice and ETSAB Barcelona. She is currently Professor at UCJC Madrid where she is Chair of ‘Affordable Habitat’. She is also the Strauch Visiting Critic at Cornell University.
Kundoo’s work extend to urban design and planning projects, with her background in rapid urbanisation related development issues, about which she has written extensively. She taught urban management at the TU Berlin and recently proposed her strategies for a future city for Africa, as part of the Milan Triennale 2014. She is the author of ‘Roger Anger: Research on Beauty/Recherche sur la Beauté, Architecture 1958-2008’ published in Berlin by Jovis Verlag in 2009. Her latest publication is a book chapter ‘Rethinking affordability in economic and environmental terms’ in the Routledge book ‘Inclusive Urbanisation: Rethinking Policy, Practice and Research in the Age of Climate Change’, 2015.
Anupama Kundoo was born in Pune, India in 1967. She graduated from Sir JJ College of Architecture, University of Mumbai in 1989, and received her PhD degree from the TU Berlin in 2008. In 2013 Kundoo received an honourable mention in the ArcVision International Prize for Women in Architecture for ‘her dedication when approaching the problem of affordability of construction and sustainability in all aspects’.
Kundoo’s work extend to urban design and planning projects, with her background in rapid urbanisation related development issues, about which she has written extensively. She taught urban management at the TU Berlin and recently proposed her strategies for a future city for Africa, as part of the Milan Triennale 2014. She is the author of ‘Roger Anger: Research on Beauty/Recherche sur la Beauté, Architecture 1958-2008’ published in Berlin by Jovis Verlag in 2009. Her latest publication is a book chapter ‘Rethinking affordability in economic and environmental terms’ in the Routledge book ‘Inclusive Urbanisation: Rethinking Policy, Practice and Research in the Age of Climate Change’, 2015.
Anupama Kundoo was born in Pune, India in 1967. She graduated from Sir JJ College of Architecture, University of Mumbai in 1989, and received her PhD degree from the TU Berlin in 2008. In 2013 Kundoo received an honourable mention in the ArcVision International Prize for Women in Architecture for ‘her dedication when approaching the problem of affordability of construction and sustainability in all aspects’.
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