Transplanting the essence of one Indian capital city into another, RSDA has retrofitted a family home with a finely tuned focus on colour, material and furniture.
August 14th, 2023
Transplanting the essence of one Indian capital city into another, RSDA has retrofitted a family home with a finely tuned focus on colour, material and furniture.
Chandigarh: the name alone is enough to conjure all sorts of images for the architecture connoisseur. Designed as the new capital of the Punjab region in northern India in the 1950s, it’s a famous example of a 20th century planned city. Le Corbusier is credited with the overall plan (although he inherited an original plan by Albert Mayer and Matthew Nowicki, and completed much of the work alongside Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry), leaving an administrative city that remains internationally notable and unique within India.
The city’s Capitol Complex was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 – little wonder, then, that this is place prone to leaving quite a mark on those who grow up and live there.
In the case of RSDA’s Zen Abode, the client was a family of four originally from Chandigarh. The house, however, is located in the National Media Center of Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi, some 270km south of Chandigarh. At the centre of the brief for the architects, then, was the challenge to recreate a pocket of the provincial capital within the wider area of the national capital.
The building was already 35 years old and RSDA approached the task through a lens of revivification – it was all about refurbishing a dilapidated house in order to create a home. More specifically, as the architects put it, it was about creating a home within a home by virtue of evoking the nostalgia of the family’s roots in Chandigarh.
With a minimal approach, RSDA has achieved this atmosphere primarily through colour and material choices, as well as a careful selection of furniture in the interiors. The architects took inspiration from Le Corbusier’s colour series, ‘Architectural Polychromy’, while in terms of materials the emphasis is very much on exposed textures in interior spaces.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Zen Abode is the use of a bold exposed brickwork for some interior walls. It evokes a certain rawness and heaviness, offset against the timber and marble floor finishes. In this way, the home evokes Chandigarh in a less literal and heavy-handed sense than by trying to recreate some kind of Brutalist concrete sculpted form for the whole building. It’s a project that works by layering colour and material in order to craft a sense of atmosphere and nostalgia for place.
The home is set in a grid, within which the architects have retrofitted the pre-existing structure with girders as well as opening up space by removing some walls. The external façade is minimal but openings into the interior are stretched in order to bring daylight inside. Retractable awnings counterbalance these by allowing for adjustable shading and shelter.
The main entrance immediately opens onto a striking open-riser metal stairway set within a double height space. Meanwhile, furniture choices are finished in rattan, yet give an industrial edge to the whole design. A library wall and outdoor terrace provide further homely touches, while walls were actually added on the first floor to create a lounge and three bedrooms.
The guiding design philosophy is about using traditional materials in a modern manner – very much in-keeping with, if not the letter of Le Corbusier’s laws, then certainly the spirit of Chandigarh.
RSDA
rsda.in
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Marylou Cafaro’s first trendjournal sparked a powerful, decades-long movement in joinery designs and finishes which eventually saw Australian design develop its independence and characteristic style. Now, polytec offers all-new insights into the future of Australian design.
‘The Elevation of Gravity’ installation was an immersive showcase of innovation that heralded the debut of Gaggenau’s groundbreaking Essential Induction cooktop.
Suitable for applications ranging from schools and retail outlets to computer rooms and X-ray suites, Palettone comes in two varieties and a choice of more than fifty colours.
In the pursuit of an uplifting synergy between the inner world and the surrounding environment, internationally acclaimed Interior Architect and Designer Lorena Gaxiola transform the vibration of the auspicious number ‘8’ into mesmerising artistry alongside the Feltex design team, brought to you by GH Commercial.
As one of the many entries to The Building category at the 2024 INDE.Awards, this community centre is something out of the ordinary through its architectural design, that also provides a place for community and connection for many.
A school in India, designed by Vijay Gupta Architects, showcases the importance of the natural world by engaging and educating the young.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
We spoke to Ketil Årdal, CEO of Danish green-tech design brand, Mater, as they unveiled the Alder collection at Milan Design Week.
What’s in a name? At Wardle, a new name marks the next progression in the architecturally designed road for this outstanding practice.