Joshi House

The client has a large family with people in different parts of the world who come together several times a year for celebrating birthdays and special occasions. The clients wanted to build a home near Auroville as a second home for themselves and their family plus hosting a large number of guests on a regular basis.

CLIENT

Jatin Joshi

CATEGORY

Independent Villa

SUB-CATEGORY

Residential

LOCATION 

Vadodara

PROJECT AREA

6,000 sq.ft

LAND AREA

1 acres

Scope

Architectural Design Sustainability Engineering – strategies for water, waste, energy Thermal Comfort through Natural Means​

Design tIMELINE

Mar 2017 – May 2017

Construction

Aug 2017 – Aug 2018

CLIENT & DESIGN BRIEF 

The client Mr. Joshi had a keen interest in Sustainable Development. He wanted his home to be an example of thermal comfort through natural cooling and an honest use of materials. He himself was a leading business man in the field of Solar Power and innovation in Air Conditioning technologies with his newest invention being a “Hygienic Air Conditioning system” co-developed with a Professor – Inventor from IIT – Mumbai. Needless to say, both these technologies formed a key element in the Design in addition to the Passive Solar Strategies. 

CHALLENGE

Joshi Home was to be set in the cultural capital of Gujarat – Vadodara – a city with a flair for literature, fine arts, architecture, and music. The Lakshmi Vilas Palace, Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, and the Baroda museum embody the spirit of the city’s heritage architecture.

OUR SOLUTION

Vadodara has a rich culture of using exposed red brick in an elegant manner visible in several public buildings around the city. In keeping with this character, we decided to use exposed red bricks as a key material of the home. The design required an almost open plan ground floor with living room, family room and dining spaces seamlessly flowing into each other. This enhances the cross ventilation between all rooms. The family room forms the fulcrum of the house. Dining opens up through a set of full-height sliding doors to the private garden. Each bedroom is fully equipped with large walk-in wardrobes and lavish washrooms. The terrace becomes a rooftop garden for evening parties. 

Entire home becomes a ‘Hawa Mahal’ !
SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES 

Along with the 2 strategies mentioned above, one of the central energy-efficient cooling devices employed in this home is the Structure Cooling System which circulates harvested rooftop rainwater through a bed of pipes under the floor and over the roof. This significantly cuts down the air conditioning cost and consequently energy bills.