BARCODE HOUSE

Size
6500 sq.ft.
Location
Mumbai
Date
December, 2013
Status
Concept Design
Type
Residential Architecture

The project is the intended home for a young couple on a plot adjoining to that of the parents. The brief demanded a three bedroom home, complete with a luxurious master bedroom suite, a double height living room, a family room, twin kitchens, along with a three car covered parking garage. The entire proposal, its programming, proportions, and operational layout take clues from its immediate context. The project name, BARCODE HOUSE is in reference to this.
A segmentation of the buildable area into unequal bands, in response to program requirements and site, culminates in an outdoor courtyard that serves as the programmatic link between the proposed structure with the context. The living room opens out into this courtyard and thus forging visual link exists from the living room of the proposed to that of the existing. The program on the far end of the courtyard, both completes the integrity of its massing, as well as houses the programs that are infrequently used and demand segregation – the guest bedroom and the office.

A segmentation of the buildable area into unequal bands, in response to program requirements and site, culminates in an outdoor courtyard that serves as the programmatic link between the proposed structure with the context.

The roof profile draws inspiration from and is a contemporary variation of the traditional sloped roof that is indigenous to Mumbai with its heavy rainfall; where the materiality of the roof is a continuation of the vertical surfaces, thus allowing for a primarily monolithic massing. Fenestration towards to the existing house is minimized, with strategic placements of controlled openings. Porosity and visual transparency are achieved laterally, with most of the ‘voids’ being completely glazed, allowing for a programmatic cross-pollination. Programmatically, the lower story, built around the living space, houses primarily the public spaces of the home, with the upper floor being reserved for the private quarters; which are calibrated to allow for selective visual links to the public programs. Voids within the barcode reveal and accentuate themselves as semi-private terraces that overlook both, the public programs on the lower level, as well as the semi-private courtyard between the two structures. The primary materials being used are plastered walls and lightly speckled granite having a honed finish. Accents within the structure are forged through the introduction of corten steel, highlighting the voids within the barcode. The material, a weathering steel, that changes colour, texture, and complexion as it matures, ensures a mutating ‘internal facade’, for the home dwellers, while maintaining a stoic appearance outwardly.