V.I.P Guest House for Bharati Vidyapeeth

Image courtesy of Shirish Beri & Associates.

The external facade is moulded in such a way that it affords maximum privacy to the inmates without making them feel closed in or claustrophobic.

The protection chajjah slabs above windows also grow organically from the wall surface, accomplish their purpose and again merge with the wall surface. The shading pergola extensions also do the same.

Image courtesy of Shirish Beri & Associates.

The curved, folding, tapering in or tapering out textural walls create very unique, out of the ordinary spatial experiences. The terraces and balconies with their special paving patterns, plants, seats etc also possess great potential as functional spaces.

The flowing of living - dining space onto the sit out verandah and the party lawn on one side and the landscaped atrium on the other side, the landscaped balconies and terraces, the view of the plants in the atrium from all floors helps integrate nature in this urban environment.

The built form with these terraces helps in making this large house more playful and humane in scale.

The building is a R.C.C frame structure with some brick and some R.C.C walls. The external plaster is a synthetic, waterproof Korean rendering.

Image courtesy of Shirish Beri & Associates.

The construction of this free form building had its own challenges - from the line out stage to its completion. The shuttering and pouring of the doubly curved surfaces required good supervision and skill. It was very important to resolve the tremendous variety of junctions in plan, section and elevation as against the standard 90 degree junctions. The furniture layout also had to be sympathetic with the architectural vocabulary. Every detail like the grills, railing, doors, windows, compound, gate etc had to be specially worked out to harmonize with the built form.

As Dr. Patangrao Kadam was very busy as a minister in Mumbai, it was Mrs. Vijaymala Kadam who put her heart in this project. Good coordination between the client, architect and the execution team helped a lot in the successful completion of this project.

Image courtesy of Shirish Beri & Associates.

Soon after its completion, the Kadam family moved into this house for a few months till their new permanent house + office was being constructed. This too was designed by Shirish.

They said it was a very different spatial experience for all of them in the beginning. But very soon, they started enjoying the spaces the flowing forms, the curving surfaces, the variety of interaction possibilities and views, the comfortable toilets and rooms with their sit out balconies.

Living in this house / guest house becomes a very pulsatingly lively and sensuous experience.

Image courtesy of Shirish Beri & Associates.

Credits

• Text and Photographs, courtesy of Shirish Beri & Associates

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