Central Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Central Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Central Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
After having derived a very simple orthogonal plan for the house, deciding the material palette for the house was the next challenge to practice restraint. Form finished concrete walls and ceiling - just one material was the answer they arrived at to create the entire shell of the house. For the flooring, furniture and fit-outs, keeping the maintenance aspects in mind, they made a filter of not using materials that would last for less than twenty years. So out went tiles from the floor and wall cladding, and in came concrete floor, Indian sand stones and granites. Out went plywood from the house in totality and in came solid teak wood, aluminium, stones and glass for furniture. The heavy flush doors got replaced with good quality natural finish anodised aluminium doors and windows. So the entire house is set out with a very limited material palette.
With a firm belief of wood being a truly renewable resource, all the bedrooms were designed using just one material - open pore polished natural teak wood procured from a forest near Valsad, just about 100 km from the site. The furniture exemplifies the craft of making solid wood furniture making with a huge emphasis on interesting and intricate wood joineries.
Central Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Living room of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
The bed and window dressing of each room gives a colour and character and individuality, and are inspired from the works of four master artists viz. S H Raza, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Klee and Georgia O’Keefe. Fusing of interesting Batik works adds lot of authenticity and depth to the bed and window dressing ideas. The idea also overflows onto the cushions in the Living room seatings, which are interpreted in Batik from the works of renowned Indian artist, Jaimini Roy.
The furniture for the entire public block, mainly the storages are made of stone and aluminium and finished with back painted glass.
Now, having created a highly functional canvass, the house was ready to accept a thematic overlay of nature which would provide further meaning and identity to the house. His wife, an architect, artist and photographer, intervened with a giant banyan tree, with roots in the South Court and foliage spreading all over the Chowk and the public spaces of the house, till its branches peep out into the North Court. This sets the visual tone of the entire house as one keeps seeing the tree in parts from almost all the spaces and hence relating to the wholeness and the massiveness of the tree. This gesture also gave a clue for the selection of the stones to be used in the house for flooring, bathrooms, furniture and landscape. A very rare kind of brown granite for the trunk was sourced and to go with it, the other stones selected were Kotah stone (mirror polished as well as river washed), and a beautiful green sandstone from Rajasthan.
Living room of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Living room of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Living room of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Dining of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Dining of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Kitchen of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Kitchen of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Kitchen of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Staircase of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
The ‘Jungle’ theme resonates in a rather subtle way through some interesting colourful artworks and photographs occupying various locations in the house. Most of the artworks viz. the Peacock, and the Ganesha, are designed or photographs are clicked by herself giving a great sense of ownership on the overall creation of the house. Out in the North Court lawns, is an interesting installation by her ‘Soulebration’, about a group of forest aborigins celebrating life everyday. Some other creations by artist friends include the ‘dragon flies’, ‘the three monkeys’, ‘the sunflowers’ (on the outdoor dining upcycled from a traditional cartwheel), and ‘the wild flowers’ (created from the scrap of bicycle parts).
PAINTING THE HOUSE GREEN (the climatic comfort - 100 percent daylight, cross ventilation, enhanced IAQ through oxygen enhancing greens indoors and practically nil VOC, passive and active methods, landscape philosophy, reused material and resources, organic vegetables farming)
Master Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Master Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Master Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Son's Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Son's Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Son's Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Mother's Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Mother's Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Daughter's Bedroom of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Outdoor Dining of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Aligning to the principles of nature was a very important part of the vision. The house is a serious endeavour to address the key issues of sustainability that the design profession needs to address in all the projects. To do their bit, for the cause of the globe, they made up their mind to do all that they could right from the concept stage.
As passive aspects of the design of the house, the house addresses two key issues. Interestingly, they had simulated the model of the house for natural daylighting, shading elements impacts on the heat gains, and wind flow through the various spaces of the house. The end result has, as an office, increased our conviction in these simulating exercises beyond any doubt.
1. 100 percent daylighting: If one doesn’t need to turn on the light anywhere in the house, practically, from 8 am to 5.30 pm, all the year round,it’s a wonderful experience. The best part is that most of the day light is glare free and diffused, making it usable in the climate of Surat’s latitude.
2. Natural wind flow comfort: All the spaces of the public block have no walls on north or south, but just a series of doors which allows a steady wind flow, generating an experience of almost sitting in a semi-open space in the the hot and humid climate of Surat. Even the private spaces i.e. the bedrooms have two large windows placed strategically in order to ensure good wind flow through all of them.
In terms of Active aspects of sustainable design, quite a few efforts have been made. Following are the key ones:
3. Enhanced Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): Firstly, there is practically no paint used in the entire house, and all wooden furniture is coated with low VOC water based PU coatings, making the house almost nil VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). To add to that the green landscape in the Chowk has plants which enhance the Oxygen levels in the internal atmosphere of the house.
4. Renewable Energy: The terrace houses 10 KW capacity solar power generating PV panels, which takes care of over 60 percent of the power needs of the house.
5. Energy Efficiency: This is very well covered through the usage of very energy efficient Air Conditioners, Electronic and Electrical equipments and only high power LED as the artificial light source. The house is at least 30 percent more energy efficient than the benchmark regular house in the regional context.
6. Water Management Efficiency: The house uses at least 35% less water than a comparable house through the usage of faucets and Sanitaryware with low flow rates, and good evolved irrigation system for the landscape. All the rain water from the plot and the society is funnelled into the ground for ground water recharging.
7. Reuse of Salvaged Materials and Furniture: Active and effective ideas to reuse salvaged materials, construction waste and some furniture from the old house have been implemented. All the stone wastage has been consumed in the paving of hardscaped areas. The seven year old sofa sets from the previous house have been reused in the living and the hobby rooms. The white china mosaic in the terrace has been carried out using the third quality and rejected tiles.
8. Climate resistant plantations: The landscape in all the three courts has been carried out using local plants that have good survival instincts to suit the climate of Surat. They grow quite a bit of vegetables and fruits adequate for personal as well as neighbours use.
For the efforts, the house already got recognised with a Platinum rating in the IGBC Green Homes category, the highest level of rating. However, with all the humility, they would like to accept that lot more can be done, and they shall better it as their learning curve improves.
Aligning to the principles of nature was a very important part of the vision. The house is a serious endeavour to address the key issues of sustainability that the design profession needs to address in all the projects. To do their bit, for the cause of the globe, they made up their mind to do all that they could right from the concept stage. Following aspects have been achieved in the project:
1. 100 percent daylighting /
2. Natural wind flow in all habitable spaces.
3. Enhanced Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) with practically zero VOC and Oxygen enhancing indoor plants
4. Renewable Energy - 60% of the need through Rooftop Solar PV
5. Nearly 30% better Energy Efficiency than conventional houses
6. Nearly 35% lower Water Consumption through various interventions
7. Reuse of lot of Salvaged Materials and old Furniture
8. Climate resistant plantations
For the efforts, the house already got recognised with a Platinum rating in the IGBC Green Homes category, the highest level of rating. However, with all the humility, they would like to accept that lot more can be done, and they shall better it as their learning curve improves.
Outdoor Dining of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
North Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
North Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
North Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
South Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
South Court of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Waterbody of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Entrance of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Exterior view of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Exterior view of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
North Elevation of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
East Elevation of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
South Elevation of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Ground Floor Plan of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
First Floor Plan of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Section of Svasti by Essteam Design Services LLP
Login with Google 
Login with Facebook 