Tower House
(Drawing: banduksmithstudio)
(Visualization: banduksmithstudio)
(Photo: Melissa Smith)
(Photo: Melissa Smith)
Project
Tower House
Tower House
Ahmedabad / India
Description
This five story house for a couple needs to last them about five years before it must transform into something else...apartments, office, we're not sure what. Until then it must operate with as limited a footprint as possible, and when the time comes for change, the spaces should be amenable to it.
A concrete frame provides the skeleton, with central circulation to allow openings on all sides. Walls wrap the interior spaces, with balconies moving around on each floor to open new vistas and new experiences, giving the residents the feeling of a house and not a tower. Smaller protected openings on the southwest corner combined with the central open stair let wind pass through the building like a sieve. Rooms are treated as pockets, minimizing the need for a/c and keeping the connection to the outdoors.
A screen encases the framework further, providing a platform for planters and support for creepers, chickmats and chhajjas that will eventually wrap the structure in a vertical green shade, protecting walls and filtering dappled light into balconies. An array of solar panels shades the terrace and generates power for the building below it.
This five story house for a couple needs to last them about five years before it must transform into something else...apartments, office, we're not sure what. Until then it must operate with as limited a footprint as possible, and when the time comes for change, the spaces should be amenable to it.
A concrete frame provides the skeleton, with central circulation to allow openings on all sides. Walls wrap the interior spaces, with balconies moving around on each floor to open new vistas and new experiences, giving the residents the feeling of a house and not a tower. Smaller protected openings on the southwest corner combined with the central open stair let wind pass through the building like a sieve. Rooms are treated as pockets, minimizing the need for a/c and keeping the connection to the outdoors.
A screen encases the framework further, providing a platform for planters and support for creepers, chickmats and chhajjas that will eventually wrap the structure in a vertical green shade, protecting walls and filtering dappled light into balconies. An array of solar panels shades the terrace and generates power for the building below it.
