Prakriti, in Sanskrit, refers to “mother nature”. This biophilic architecture cradles amidst India’s Sahyadri mountains, flanked by forest at its backside, while overlooking Mukane dam. Villa Prakriti is a quaint biophilic farmhouse reciting the connection between humans and nature. This forested sanctuary seeks not to mimic nature, but to live in its likeness, to be adaptive, procreative, and rooted. A home that blends into its natural surroundings. The first seed of thought germinated under the existing lone mango tree, which formed the instinctual nucleus, the axis mundi.
Editor’s Note: “True to its name, Villa Prakriti is a celebration of nature and rooted design. Nestled amidst a contoured landscape and thoughtfully designed around an existing mango tree, this biophilic home seamlessly blends into its serene surroundings. With a climate-responsive approach, curated materials, and spatial planning, the home doesn’t just sit in nature, it breathes with it.” ~Rajvi Dedakiya
Villa Prakriti Is A Celebration Of Biophilic Architecture | unTAG
Traversing the home on a contoured topography becomes an act of choreography, negotiating levels, unravelling spaces. Instead of flattening the ground into terraces, the house treads gently along it, a minimal cut-fill philosophy respecting the natural gradient.
The spatial configuration splits into two wings around the tree, one public, one private, connected through the mango court. The home is accessed through a meandering entrance stair, orchestrating a lyrical rise through a tropical green thicket.
The stair lands onto a brick-floored entrance canopy, greeted by the Mango tree, dappled by filtered light through a bamboo pergola. The living is envisaged as a transient threshold connecting front and rear landscapes.
The Living opens to the south, where a 10-foot-deep verandah protects the space and terminates in a trapezoidal pool that frames views of the Sahyadris. The designers shape the organic planter-bed into a built-in seat beneath an elliptical skylight, making it the defining feature of the Living. A sculptural indoor spiral stair, born through another thicket of greens, leads you to the upper bedroom.
At Prakriti, one can feel the forest breathing within and around the home through its multiple biophilic gestures, be it visual, olfactory, or auditory. Metaphorical to an earthy creature born from the Sahyadris’ fertile soil, the home with its terracotta hues, gives birth to the various green offspring.
Habitable spaces are cross-ventilated, ensuring a year-round thermal comfort. Additionally, the clay tile roofs ensure the natural escape of hot air. The designers extensively use local brick—honest, textural, and timeless- to instill warmth and tactility. They laid native, cost-effective Shahabad stone in various patterns throughout the home.
Every solution, right from massing to architectural detailing to conscious material choices, is made to achieve an ecologically and economically sustainable design. The site’s architecture and landscape together blur the boundary between built and unbuilt, restoring ecological memory and inviting the forest to reclaim its continuity. This is architecture in its most elemental form, a way of listening, inhabiting, co-existing, and ever-evolving.
The traditional clay tile roof evokes contextual rootedness, taking clues from the regional building techniques. Ethnic indoor aesthetics within a bare-basic white shell lend a sense of warm Indianness to the spaces.
Designed with climatically sensitive solar passive strategies, the home with two sloping roofs and deep overhangs, shades the harsh sun through its verandahs and balconies, and brings in diffused light through its brick jaalis. The other three bedrooms constituting the private wing are straddled at three levels, negotiated by outdoor stairs, interspersed with greens.
Fact File
Designed by: unTAG
Project Type: Landscape Architecture Design
Project Name: Villa Prakriti
Location: Igatpuri, Maharashtra
Year Built: 2024
Built-up Area: 4500 Sq.ft
Principal Architects: Gauri Satam & Tejesh Patil
Team Design Credits: Vibhu Viraj, Kavya Shah & Maanika Gupta
Photograph Courtesy: Pranit Bora
Landscape Architecture: Kavya Shah & unTAG
Engineering & Consulting > Structural: Deltacom
General Constructing: VN Developers and Builders
Engineering & Consulting > Other: Papaya Nursery
Source: Archdaily
Firm’s Website Link: unTAG
Firm’s Instagram Link: unTAG
For Similar Project >>>This Organic House Rolls into the Vibrant Green Landscape Naturally
The site is located in Ahilyanagar town of Maharashtra, with a design brief of 7,000 sq feet, while the house had to be designed for the hot and dry climate, which responds carefully to extreme temperatures, intense sunlight, and low humidity. The design focuses on reducing heat gain, improving natural ventilation, and creating comfortable indoor spaces with […]
“Pravah” — A House That Breathes is envisioned as the main concept of this home revolves around a fluid, light-filled home where architecture becomes a continuous experience of movement, air, and connection. Located in Pal Gamtal, Surat, the project is a residential redevelopment on a 1,850 sq.ft. plot within a dense urban fabric. The site, […]
SapanoUday is a contemporary residence that balances material rawness with layered textures and crafted detail, aligning modern living with cultural and spatial sensibilities. Designed by Hundreddesigns, the home responds closely to the client’s routines and artistic inclinations while thoughtfully integrating Vastu principles. HundredDesigns The designers defined the architecture through a minimal palette, using exposed concrete […]
KRIPA is a residence that reflects the personality and lifestyle of its homeowner — calm, open, and rooted in nature. The project focuses on creating light-filled, green spaces with minimal private zones, encouraging openness and connection. In a time when spaces are shrinking but expectations are rising, architecture becomes the medium to bridge this gap […]
The Sculpted Sanctuary is a masterclass in modern minimalist design. The project focuses on “Quiet Luxury”. It is the idea that a space doesn’t need bright colors or flashy decor to feel expensive. Instead, it uses raw natural materials, rich textures, and sharp architectural lines. This Home Is A Masterclass In Modern Minimalist Design | […]
SIDHARTHA, is a four-bedroom modern house which is functional and aesthetic driven by the specific needs of the client. The location of the site is in a dense neighbourhood in Bengaluru, India. The contemporary urban dwelling frequently negotiates competing demands. It balances generous daylight and visual connection to the street with privacy, dust control, and […]
Located in HMT Layout, Bangalore, Isha_Srinidhi Nilaya stands as a multi-generational home designed on a compact 60×40 ft (2400 sq. ft) East facing plot, with a total built-up area of 8000 sq. ft. East Facing a lush public park, the residence responds to its urban setting through a layered design that balances privacy with a […]
Timeless architectural features, such as courtyards, are always associated with bringing the naturally public forms to the world’s heart, building the most peaceful, secluded outdoor areas. These outdoor spaces maximize the living experience with their private space feature, which gives one the option for leisurely relaxation, recreation, or gardening. Furthermore, it has also been a […]
The Indian farmhouse accommodation goes on to capitalize on a mature evolutionary synthesis of ancestral aesthetics and contemporary features. With this, the outside and the inside of farmhouses became places of comfort with nature. In this blog, we delve into 15 incredible farmhouse designs that entail a harmonious blending. While they exhibit different spaces in […]
Plants for home garden, apart from making houses look more beautiful and inviting, add health and calmness to them. Having any kind of indoor plant, a herb plant or a flowering plant adds some value to your decor and the quality of the space. Always choose plants that will flourish in your space and climate. […]