The Pavilion House, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh by Flyingseeds Design Studio
The site, around 25000 sqft, was a flat, long rectangular profile orienting North-South with an existing house of the owner on the extreme Southwest segment of the plot and a vast garden towards the north.
The brief was to design a new contemporary house next to the existing one, with an open garden all to it. This new house belongs primarily to the new Generation, two young boys who were about to start their own family soon.
The Family, being affable and social, always believed in meeting and hosting community gatherings, often within their own premises. Hence we aspired to ideate a zestful, young Contemporary Indian house nestled within nature, dedicated to recreational pursuit!
To start with, The Ground floor level was conceived as a free-flowing open layout with blurred boundaries between the interconnected spaces, which eventually could act as one big public space when needed.
The New house shares the entrance porch and reception with the existing house. Both the house units have been intentionally connected with an axial wall, which originates from the existing house, travels through the fascia of the existing Temple and divides the entire building footprint in 1:2, which is further divided into three equal rectangular zones – Living, Common area and Private Zones stretching from North to South. The Fragmental Wall, as we call it, is the transition element, made out of indigenous limestone, articulated with strategic openings, between the Living, Drawing and Common lobby. Once in the entrance lounge, this free-standing wall is the main guiding axis travelling throughout the length of the common lobby and Drawing room to the edge of the Pool.
On the south end of the Pool sits the secluded entity ‘The Pavilion’ overlooking the pool. The glass Pavilion has been envisaged as the tranquil recreation hub of the house, floating above the pool and is the final destination of all the movement routes at the ground floor level. It is connected to the semi-covered bar extending out of the Drawing room on one side and to the living room deck through glass steps over the pool on another side. The Drawing room is connected to the pool on the east with large full-height windows. The flexible nature of the living areas moulds themselves by spilling over and merging together as per the size of the gathering.
A prominent existing Plumeria tree in the centre of the rear Garden in the North induces the built mass and carves in a part of the garden deep into the core of the building, thereby bringing nature indoors to bloom right in the centre of the living space and be in constant transmission with it. The green court is secured by a double height glazing and an inclined north skylight on the top making it a large Green Terrarium amplifying the openness and bringing in the abundance of North light throughout the day for the living and common areas. The living spaces, oriented towards the vast garden, feature full-height glass windows to invigorate transparency and undeterred views.
The South façade of the house comprises a thick double cavity wall with small apertures integrated with specifically designed solar shading louvres to achieve efficient passive thermal insulation and block the harsh Sun of the long summers of central India.
All the master bedrooms sit on the first and second floor and align to the south edge of the house.
The New house connects the existing one on the first floor through a wide green bridge, right above the entrance portico. The connecting bridge and the terraces flaring out in north and south have been encapsulated with the spunky, light MS canopies with soft Tensile Fabric coverings that not just protect from sun and heavy monsoons but also distinctively compliments the heavy solid built mass.
The clients, being Art aficionados, had huge collections of legendary paintings and sculptures; the fragmental wall and others become the display background for the selected paintings and the souvenirs add another layer of harmony and charm to the stimulating inside-out environment of the ‘Pavilion House’.
The House made beneficently, comprises a large recreation area, a swimming pool, a home theatre, a full-fledged Gym, a spa and a huge open green lawn which was meant to host community gatherings, was completed just before the world came to a halt in March 2020 due to the pandemic. The new house motive got reformatted and instantly suited to the present need of the family to lock themselves in and relish the sublime living all by themselves.
Gallery of The Pavillion
Drawings and Model
Project Facts
Project name: The Pavilion House
Project Location: Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, INDIA
Project Category: Architecture, Private Residence
Architect’s Firm: Flyingseeds design studio, New Delhi
Lead Architects: Abhinav Chaudhary, Kakoli Bhattacharya,
Team : Pushpendra kashyap, Shubham Jain, Akshita Rana
Completion Year: 2020
Gross Built Area: 12500 sqft
Total Site Area: 25000 sqft
Photo credits: Abhinav Chaudhary
