RETREAT OF HANGING GARDENS | 2015 | URBAN DESIGN
GABION WALL | 2017 | URBAN

This project is placed in Ratnagiri in Konkan region of Maharashtra, where it rains very heavily during monsoons, as a matter of fact, Konkan recently been converted into world heritage for the natural resources, which has generated new opportunities to conserve the species of the same region. When the client approached us, there was a recent memory of tragedy happened in Mali where the whole village got buried under the landslides because of unaware gentrification.


Now whole grammar of architecture of this project begins with the larger understanding of the site where a site is placed along one of the tributary of the Savitri River at its infant stage. Whole programmatic understanding of this project talks about making plot divisions available for the accommodations of second home along this site. There were hundreds of homes proposed to accommodate. When this project came to us it was a major task to get an awareness of the landscape of this region. When we visited this site clients had intervened on site without understanding the soil qualities and the conditions of this site. While explaining about the disasters on the same night cloud burst very heavily and people on the site experienced the disaster. Later the path was very easy to convince the client.


When we started on board it was very imperative to understand the water system, soil system, vegetation system and their networking. The proposal is made such that all the overlap of this system will govern the sharing of boundaries, vocabulary of architecture. For the gestures of architecture history always plays an important role to understand the principles of making settlements. In the Inka civilization, place called Macchu Picchu a capital placed in such a similar condition where an irrigation system was evolved such to serve the settlement, also, it has given a terraced vocabulary to the place, was the first reference taken for the evolution of design.


Second gesture of one of the seven wonders of the world, hanging garden of Babylon where again all the gardens where flourished along the terraces. This gave us clues for the technological evolution to retain the soil on site where by means of terracing along the vegetation could help to retain and conquer the landslide. This larger image of site set the regulatory principle of making architecture on site where architecture becomes participant in the whole landscape of this place. Whole appearance of this site gives visuals of hanging garden; hence the name retreat hanging gardens is appropriately given to it.


Planning of this place is done such, water streams along the street creates boundaries of the plot during monsoons while during the other seasons they themselves become shortcuts to reach to the other place. These are one of indigenous qualities of the ancient town. Talking about architecture of this place the participatory attempt is made instead of showing an exclusivity of architectural project, For that all indigenous material and technologies being used for the construction of spaces. This gives an appearance of architecture like nestle within nature.


GABION WALL | 2017 | URBAN