Category: Gated Residential Community
Location: Auroville
Area: 25,000 sq.ft
Client Name: Prabodh Doshi, Auroma Synergy
Timeline Design: Jan 2012 - July 2013
Construction: Feb 2014 - Dec 2017
Status: Completed
Scope:
Architectural Design
Heritage Ambience
Sustainability Engineering
Appropriate Materials,
Innovation in Building technologies
Strategies for water & waste
Strategies for Energy efficiency
Thermal Comfort through Natural Means
Master Planning
Structural Design
Plumbing Design
Electrical Design
Branding through Building Design
Landscape Design
Market Feasibility for Developer
Interior Design
East facing Villas - Progress, Courage, Goodness
CLIENT
A client approached us with the idea of creating a Sustainable Residential Community for their family and friends. They were from Mumbai and had shifted to Pondicherry after a successful career in running several manufacturing industries. Also, they had a refined sense of aesthetics, both husband and wife being artists. Their vision was that it should be a one-of-its-kind Gated development which would combine all the green features a homeowner could dream of. This would be Pondicherry’s first initiative of this kind.
West facing Villas - Sincerity, Humility, Aspiration, Receptivity.
SITE
They took us to the land they had selected for this purpose at the cusp of Pondicherry & Auroville. The ECR bypass was only a km away and yet we found ourselves almost tucked away in a forest. We climbed a small ladder leaning against a site office. To our greatest surprise, we found ourselves surrounded by 360 degrees of lush green treetops, as far as our eyes could see.
360 degrees of Treetops and Greenery !
We also understood that if we stand at the second or third-floor level, we will be able to see the crystal clear waters of the Bay of Bengal. We could hear at least twelve different types of birds chirping away against the background score of the rustling of leaves. Our hair was flowing in the breeze. The bright orange sun hovers near the tree-tops. We were smiling, breathing deeply, assimilating this grandeur of nature. And we said to ourselves - Perfect location !
DESIGN BRIEF & CHALLENGE
Our scope involved market surveys and coming up with the best ideas in making the project financially feasible for the end users. It would be a combination of first homes and second homes with home sizes ranging from compact studios to spacious 3 bedroom apartments. After a few meetings, we understood that this was a special project with a Vision where Architectural Design would play a very important role. The design needed a theme, a unique identity that would make it stand apart from the dozens of other developers in the city.
Diversity in Unity ! Each Villa stands out as unique due to colour in spite of a similar design
East facing Elevation Design
West facing Elevation Design
OUR SOLUTION
ONE-ITS-KIND IN INDIA
We did not want to make this into a standard apartment block. So we organised the project in a modular manner into seven French styled Villas. One home would occupy an entire floor making it a “Villa-ment” - the ambience of a Villa for the price of an Apartment !
Also, this strategy made each home open to all 4 cardinal directions - North, East, West and South - a feat nearly impossible for any apartment to achieve, anywhere in India.
Master Plans of Gated Community showing Villas, Meditation hall & Gardens
OUR INSPIRATION - HERITAGE DESIGN but with MODERN TECHNOLOGY
The French town of Pondicherry has a charming architectural character. However, most strategies used by these heritage buildings could be reinterpreted in a modern context and redesigned in a highly resource efficient manner. The project would seamlessly combine the wisdom of the past heritage with the cutting edge modern science to create an inspiring Sustainable Future. We decided the central concept of this project would be “Heritage - Green - Storytelling Homes” which would be future-ready.
Large French styled doors, windows, balconies and verandahs form the key features of the homes.
Every piece of wood has been handcrafted to reveal its beautiful grains and brings nature indoors !
PROACTIVE RESPONSE TO CLIMATE
WIND
We wanted every home to be a Hawa Mahal ! The memory of the first day on the land was too special and we wanted everyone who lives in these homes to experience that amazing feeling of breathing the freshest and most fragrant air in India with the breeze blowing through your hair ! For this, we conducted wind readings on the site before deciding the exact orientation of buildings and oriented the windows to create funnel effect and pull the breeze into the home. Also, myriad windows inside each apartment which enable the home to open up and close like a flower !
Every Home a Hawa Mahal !
THERMAL COMFORT
One of the simplest ways of preventing your home from getting heated up is to orient it correctly such that the walls do not face the sun. Easily said ! But site conditions govern how your buildings will sit. At AFV, the interiors of all homes remain remarkably cool because of correct orientation. Added to this, the deep verandahs and balconies further act as an umbrella or a barrier preventing the walls of the house from absorbing the sunlight.
Deep verandahs and balconies acting as an umbrella preventing the walls of the house from absorbing sunlight
SHADED STREETS OF JAISALMER
Important lessons are to be learnt from old heritage towns which were kept cool through clever layouts. At AFV, the shaded streets of Jailsalmer have inspired the internal pathways which ensure the Villas shade each other at all times with reversing shadow patterns during mornings and afternoons.
Mutual shading of buildings inspired from the shaded streets of Jaisalmer
CHOICE OF MATERIALS
The choice of materials rose out of our passion for Sustainability. Old heritage buildings are built with fired red bricks where a 9” wall has a thermal transmittance of 1.92 W/m2k. Given the hot and humid climate of South India, this can make homes very hot from inside and hence people in older days had to make walls of double thickness to keep out the heat. At AFV, we got special bricks made with flyash and lime with a thermal transmittance of 0.66W/m2k. With these, we were able to achieve the same level of thermal comfort of a 18” red brick wall with a 9” flyash wall thereby maximising the carpet area of the home.
With all these strategies put together, we were able to bring down the air conditioning load of the homes by half !
SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES TOP IT ALL !
The Sustainable Strategies include Rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, ecological treatment of wastewater, kitchen waste composting, usage of harvested water in gardening, solar water heaters, solar compatible inverters and battery backups as well as edible Kitchen Gardens on Rooftops. Birding has developed as a common hobby and the water here is so pure and sweet, that each time I ask my friends in Mumbai - What I should bring for them from here, the stock response is - One Bottle of AFV water !
Garden at Auroma French Villaments which brings together all residents for outdoor programmes
“Each gave its powers to help its neighbours' parts,
But suffered no diminution by the gift;
Profiteers of a mystic interchange,
They grew by what they took and what they gave,”
- From Poem Savitri by Sri Aurobindo
This project has also been covered in Trupti’s TEDx talk “Can a Building be a Person?” in Greece under the heading “Building as a Mother”. Please find the link here.
