মেঘ রোদ | FrameWork Architects
THE HOME AS A LANDSCAPE ELEMENT
Location: Puthia, Natore, Bangladesh
Land area: 24133.45 sft
Built area: 1815.20 sft
Year of completion: 2022
Design: FrameWork
Architect: Md. Faysal Kabir,Anup Kumar Basak
Construction: Sangath
Structural Engineer: Saiful Bari
film by Asif Salman
A home reflects one’s lifestyle, occupation, socio-economic reality, etc. As the Socioeconomic scenario and behavior in rural Bengal is changing rapidly, people are just blindly pasting urban boxes as a functional solution.
On the other hand, buildings created for vacation are exceptionally well composed to be missed out, that “this is a vacation house”. In both cases, the contextualization of rural landscape and geography is highly ignored, and sometimes destroyed.
In searching for a fine balance in-between, the design team was struggling and exercising to achieve an ‘adobe’ that emerged from the ground like a deeply rooted tree with firm dignity. But rising up, it interacts and be integrated with the surrounding by the subtlety of warm gesture, gracefully embracing the outside, while creating a space within. In simple words, the architects intended to design the home itself as a landscape element blended with the nature of the village.
The owners of this house live in the city but each moment they dream to return to their childhood village. More significantly they dream of providing their progeny with a great childhood memory of village life and ancestors, fishing in the pond, and playing in the dazzling field. Therefore, the design team has been left with a challenge to find a language (architectural) where the home not only evokes the simplicity of daily life aged ‘dada-bari’ (grandfather home) but also a minimum humble comfort of the city, ensuring a down to earth grandness befitting for a tranquil vacation. So that in case of crisis, the client may convert it into a vacation house for a financial return.
The monolithic mass of red brick was intended to stand as an inseparable blending with nature like a withered, ancient ruin. Sometimes it is solid, to hold the shadows of trunks and leaves. Sometimes it is porous, to pour the lights in. It would indeed be choreographed according to ordinary daily life but yet it would stand apart in the reddish evening glow, imprinting some precious moment.
From the road front, the building appears to be in very simple geometric dialogue but it breaks and bends the perception when one enters into the realm of an inner courtyard.
Having the most extreme weather conditions, extremely hot and extreme cold the home is layered by two terraces, one in the east (for summer), and one in the west (for winter).
The dweller can start the day by having morning tea, chatting, and observing the neighbors passing by. And also they can celebrate the ending of the day, contemplating on the west terrace.
The ‘ghat’ ties the whole complex into one whole with seating steps and a bridge. The ‘ghat’ platform is basically a floating board hanging on the pond which enlarges the ‘uthan’ and enables the space to be a courtyard. At the same time, the ghat binds the pond as an integral part of the residence, in terms of space, spectacular view, and social mingling. This is the point where we faced a hard time intervening, without which the site would remain bits and pieces, a small plot for home loosely bottle-necked with a big pond. It took a long exercise to fix the master plan actually how we are going to combine the whole in one experience that rises from site but gently orchestrates with neighborhood trees and people.
All rights reserved 2023
#architecture #bangladeshiarchitecture #bengalarchitecture #ruralbangladesh #residencearchitecture #architecturalphotography #architecturalfilms #architecturaltrends