Architecture Brio
Prinicipal Architects
Shefali Balwani completed her degree at the School of Architecture C.E.P.T. University in Ahmedabad and studied during an exchange program at the TU Delft in the Netherlands.
Robert Verrijt is from the Netherlands where he received his Masters in Architecture from the TU Delft. In 2006 they formed Architecture BRIO together in Mumbai.
“Each project is seen as a challenge and opportunity to uncover unique characteristics of these specific conditions, investigating which intervention has a potential for positive change and impact in the way we deal with our natural and built world.”
The Tree House Villa is a holiday home nestled overlooking the overwhelmingly beautiful hills and estuaries of Tala. The villa has been designed with different levels of transparency to allow the integration of the structure with the surrounding landscape.
Project Details
- Type: Hospitality
- Location: Tala, Maharashtra, India
- Site Area : 160 acres
- Built up Area : 225 sq. m.
- Timeline: 2016-2017
Client’s Brief
The client wanted to create a holiday home that was a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces that maximized the views. It was important for the villa to have an open layout with minimum use of limiting walls. At the same time the villa was to be able to accommodate a family with children.
Challenges
The biggest challenge was to design a layout that offered privacy to the residents without the use of brick and mortar walls. They set out to create a free flowing space with unhindered views of the river. Through the careful use of reflective and sheer surfaces through the layout, they achieved different levels of privacy, while ensuring a constant link to the surrounding landscape.
Architect’s Intake
“We were convinced that we could not create something as impressive as what was already existing.” The team attempted to merely frame the natural landscape. But while taking in as much as possible of its beauty, they also sought to create an intimate experience inside the villa. To ensure the intimacy with nature, they set out to design the villa to emphasise the surroundings instead of overpowering the landscape with architecture.
The villa accommodates 4 adults and 2 children. The functions included provide for two double beds, a loft bed for children, two bathrooms, a lounge, a place for breakfast or playing board games with an outdoor deck and a large viewing deck.
LEGEND
- Bedroom
- Glass Bathroom
- Spiral staircase
- Deck
- Outdoor Staircase
- Living area
- Bedroom
- Pantry
- Dining area
- Outdoor Bathroom
- Spiral Staircase
- Deck
- Gallery
As smaller spaces within a larger space, the bathroom and pantry-cum-loft are enclosures made out of a wooden slatted framework and filled in with white plexiglass.
The pantry unit contains all the services of the room and a small kitchenette. The top of the unit is accessed with a wooden ladder and provides an additional bed. Looking down on the surrounding forest it is almost like a ‘pirates nest’, a great cozy hideout for young kids.
Rather than compartmentalizing the activities into distinct rooms, the main space is broken up by three smaller enclosures that are positioned within it, ensuring a visual connection to the forest in multiple directions from all rooms: a pantry-cum-loft unit, a semi-outdoor bathroom and a curtained bed enclosure act as anchors and define interstitial zones such as the breakfast room and the lounge. The free flowing circulation in between creates visual permeability across the plan.
The guest suite is on one side backed by a rock outcrop and on the other side surrounded by a thick forest. One can take a shower here with merely a curved glazed sheet separating an occupant and the forest life around. A free standing bath tub and the indoor-outdoor feel of the space make it an ideal relaxed setting.
The enclosure of the semi-outdoor bathroom encloses an outdoor courtyard but also protrudes into the glazed interior space. The bathroom enclosure is crafted out of vertical timber slats filled in with mirrored panels that reflect the surrounding forest and the other forms occupying the space.
An old Garuga fruit tree punctures the floor of the outdoor bathroom. One branch enters the room and exits again through the thatched roof. Other branches spread across the outdoor bathroom before exiting through multiple circular openings in the enclosure.
A timber floored outdoor deck and attached staircase invites you to take a hike in the forest. With the use of natural materials like timber and thatch and creating transparent enclosures, the villa blends into the landscape. Internally, the use of reflective surfaces always maintains an occupant’s connection with the encompassing greenery.
A spiral staircase connects to a secret lower level that is suspended below the tree villa.
This spatial composition in an otherwise traditional tropical roof structure lends a sense of softness, sensuality, intimacy and complexity, making it a perfect setting for a retreat into the wilderness of Tala.
Elements and textures as parts of the structure are focused on coexistence. The monochrome colour scheme of the space along with an eclectic mix of partly restored and partly custom designed furniture pieces give the interior bohemian vibe.
The restraint in the colour palette highlights the surrounding greenery.
Similarly, the crispness of geometry and the slender proportions the enclosures are a premeditated effort to amplify this untempered wilderness.
The architectural elements of the house have been carefully curated, each conveying a message of its own.