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Architecture

2018

Photographer : Pratik Chandresha

The Cube 3 House is located in a tight urban, densely populated context of Navsari, Gujarat. It is nestled in a corner plot of size 35 ft. X 45 ft., with its north and east facing the road and the south and west towards the neighboring plots. This 2589 sq.ft. (240.5 sq.mt.) residence expands in three levels, with common areas, parking, parents’ bedroom and a temple on the ground and private spaces on the upper levels. The brief demanded a Jain Temple that would be used by neighbors as well. It was placed in the northeast corner from the perspective of Vastu and easy accessibility for outsiders without hampering the residents’ privacy.

The challenge was to accommodate multiple functions on the ground floor. The planning was done such that the spaces flow into each other divided by screens and louvers. The parents’ bedroom is connected to the house with louvers. This helps in expanding the spaces visually. Even the furniture was detailed to be compact and flexible catering to the space restrictions and larger family requirements. The cushioned seating in the living and dining area could be compactly nestled under the table keeping the spaces uncluttered.

Surat, Gujarat, India

Architects	:	Studio Living Stone
Year	:	2018
Website	:	https://www.instagram.com/studiolivingstone/

The first floor is planned as a private space with two bedrooms and a relaxing lounge. The master bedroom gets the requisite privacy and has its own connect with the spacious green balcony in the front which can also be accessed from the relaxing space. This interestingly incorporates the multiplicity of spaces. To make the rooms more spacious, no solid door partitions were used. Soft furnishings were used as light dividers to maintain privacy. The interior material palette is simple and elegant with the use of woods, whites with colour pops to bring in timelessness, openness and coherence to the whole.

The second floor partly houses a guest bedroom and is partly left open. This helps in bringing down the vertical mass of the built-form and freeing up the corner space giving it a humane scale considering the tight context.

The most striking feature of the house is the north façade. The large openings make the interiors bright and lively. These openings are very well articulated which in itself forms a piece of art and functions as recessed protection to these windows. Indian Jaisalmer yellow stone with grey kandala stone as its frame is used to highlight this block of cubes. The rest of the house was painted white to set harmony with the temple which had to be done in white Indian marble without diminishing its value. This forms a perfect balance of material composition in the façade. This exciting interplay of the façade is consciously detailed, morphing from individual volumes made cohesive by its cube forms.