Sited in a farming collective, the design is conceptualised around 23 mature, fruit-bearing trees, set to the far end of an 11,000 sq.ft. plot. The house is conceived as a nebulous pavilion juxtaposed with cavernous volumes. The pavilion on the west and the fortress-like mass to the east are connected by an intimate necking, under the canopy of a mango tree.
The pavilion, with four exposed concrete columns against a rammed earth plane, serves as an outdoor living room, embracing the vagaries of nature. The cantilevered floor slab of the pavilion gives a sense of lightness by gently levitating over the ground, nesting under the foliage of trees forming a secondary roof. In contrast, the inward-looking, grounded volumes for sleeping are bound by a rammed earth enclosure, punctured by private courts, with west and south sun blocked.
The dimensions of the volumes are derived from the size of rammed-earth shuttering. Fixed glass articulates the junction between rammed-earth walls and RCC columns. South of the pavilion is a tree-court, flanked on either side by an indoor living room and kitchen. Minimal material palette of rammed earth, RCC, natural kadappa stone and wood heighten the conditions of lightness and darkness; openness and contained-ness, as a primal spatial experience.
Gallery:
Drawings:
Project Details:
Name: Earth Pavilion House
Location: Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India
Status: Completed (2025)
Gross Built Area: 2200 sq ft
Typology: Residential Architecture
Designed by: Samvad Design Studio
Design Team: R. Ramalakshmi and Surabhi Shingarey
Photo Credits: Samvad Design Studio
Project Description: Samvad Design Studio
