Our clients, Mr. Sofi Zahoor and Mrs. Ritu Tondon, aspired to have a naturally lit house in a linear plot that celebrates nothingness, thus bringing in a meditativeness in the house. This house for a couple and a son was to be designed in a 300-square-yard house. The owners come from an urban background and aspired to have a modern with a touch of tradition house. Mr. Sofi Zahoor’s roots go back to Kashmir; hence, a hint of the roots was also to be reflected. The design style was a pure minimalist style, where a lot of emphasis was given to the use of natural light and fluidity of spaces within a linear plot.

The Linear Plot of this House Inspired A Design That Emphasizes Natural Light | Forum Advaita

Primarily the shape of the plot, which was a very linear size, inspires us to create a seamlessness of the spaces. This motivates us to have a central open dry court to bring natural light and push the habitable spaces on the edges, which are the front and rear sides. Thus was discovered a 4-bay plan where the central two bays were open for the common areas.

Furthermore, it decides the position of the staircase for this duplex house, which we thought should not disturb the central open two bays for spatial connections. Thus the staircase is a linear flight, one above the other.

Moreover, extending the idea of playing with natural light, considering the movement of the sun. We started to position the main skylight above the dry court in such a way that we receive indirect light into the house. Then, introduced two more skylights, one at the foyer and the other above the staircase flight.

Open space

They placed two bedrooms on each floor to satisfy the 4-bedroom requirement. Both the bedrooms are towards the outer and rear edges of the plot. However, since the plot was a long canvas, we achieved a square form of central open space, which we further decided to split into two bays.

This allows us to create framed openings in between spaces and create relationships amongst them. A central dry court to bring natural light became the heart of the house, allowing connections from the bedrooms, library, formal living, and dining area with the dry court.

Entrance

The bigger challenge was to create a sense of opulence in a relatively narrower plot. Hence we decided to position the entrance onto the vertex and allow a diagonal movement across the spaces. Pushing back the kitchen into the rear setback and creating an open breakfast counter near the dining area allows the walls to be pushed back, resulting in more spacious interiors. The library on the first floor overlooks the dry court while one sits to read. It allows cross-dialogue, like in traditional Indian settings.

Material and Finishes

They use a framed structural system and conventional materials like brick and concrete for the superstructure. For the finishes, we intended to use very understated materials like grey vitrified tiles and Dholpur stone cladding. Handmade tile for toilets and pop punning on the walls.

Color Tones

We chose two tones of gray for the common areas to leverage the natural light, avoiding an overload of color. For the bedrooms, we used pastel shades as accent colors.

Dry Court

A dry court with glass skylight is positioned towards the sun movement. Thus, bringing in indirect light which is glare free and transforms the space into a silver light from within. This court has all the habitable spaces, like the dining room, bedroom, and formal living, abutting around it.

Circulation Space

The design integrates the formal living area into the circulation space, rather than isolating it on one side. A framed opening between the living and small families sustains the transparency in the house. The dry court covered with glass skylight is an extension to the formal living area in order to create an informality in the space that can be enjoyed from neighboring spaces like the dining and bedroom area.

Foyer

The arrival into the house is a sunlit space that makes your eye move around within a small linear space of 7’x9′. A 10-foot-high wooden door opens up the space flooded with natural light from the skylight above. The light familiarizes you with the actual dimensions of the space.

Formal Living Room

One slowly transcends from the vertex of the plot into the formal living seamlessly directed by a curved wall. The arrival leaves you with a choice of either picking a straight flight towards the first floor or else following the curved wall to arrive into the formal living room that becomes part of the circulation, offering a different dimension of space.

Staircase

The staircase flight from the first floor to the second floor has a glass skylight, which gives filtered light until the ground-floor staircase flight. The flight from the first floor to the second floor is a metal staircase with teak wood steps, again lit by a skylight above that creates a filtered pattern of light along the wall through the steps.

Skylights

The 3 skylights inside the house create a composition of light and shadows throughout the day, offering changing moods throughout the day. The bay window on the first floor tapers into the dry court to make one feel suspended in the court area. It also adds a new dimension to the space.

Frames

The entire spatial arrangement is such that one discovers multiple frames within spaces, thus the name “The Framed House.“. These frames separate the staircase from the family area on the first floor, formal living and lounge on the ground floor. They allow a notional enclosure and distant viewing at the same time.

Facade

The house with a linear plot was composed as a composition of cubes, creating a choreography of 3 elements. To ensure the individual identity of all the 3 cubes, we ensured that they were all disconnected from each other, eventually allowing us to create window openings to bring natural light inside. The black leather stone cladding onto the recessed planes helped enhance the identity of the cubes, thus amplifying the dialogue amongst them.

Fact File

Designed by: Forum Advaita

Project Type: Residential Architecture Design

Project Name: The Framed House

Location: CP 87 _ Sector-109, Mohali, Chandigarh, Punjab

Year Built: December 2020 – 2022

Duration of the project: 2 Years

Project Size: 2700 Sq.ft

Project Cost: 1.2 Crore

Principal Architect: Aman Sohal

Team Design Credits: Niharika, Mashaara & Arshjot

Photograph Courtesy: Purnesh Dev Nikhanj

Products / Materials / Vendors: Finishes – BLACK LEATHER STONE, TEXTURED PAINT, VITRIFIED TILES, WOODEN FLOORING / Wallcovering / Cladding – BLACK LEATHER STONE, TEXTURED PAINT / Lighting – PHILLIPS / Doors and Partitions – TEAK WOOD / Sanitaryware – GROHE / Facade Systems – FENISTA Windows – FENISTA / Flooring – NEXION / Paint – DULUX ICI / Hardware – KICH

Firm’s Website Link: Forum Advaita

Firm’s Instagram Link: Forum Advaita

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