Inside Wada Styled Nashik Farm House With Two Courtyards (House Tour).

Normally, as an architect, we design dream homes for many clients. I was also thinking of having our own house, which is much different than the conventional one. And here I thought that it would be a good opportunity to explore. It is a place where we love to invite people, both people gather, have art workshops. I think it's a melting pot of all the philosophy and ideology. Hello, I'm architect Sanjay Patil. And I'm architect Anagha Patil. From Environ Planners Nashik. And we are at a farmhouse in Maidanvi. We believe that a building is like an microorganism. With time, it changes. With time, the needs change of the users. With time, the technology changes. And we feel that it should be reflected in the building. With 15-20 years apart between the two phases, it should be seen. But at the same time, it should not be alien to each other. So the material palette is different, but the approach to its design is same. This side is the north and we have water body towards west side. The land area is 8 acres of land. So that is 32,000 square meters. The first phase consists of two pavilions, having an area of 150 square meters. And the second phase consists of four bedrooms, having an area of 400 square meters. The idea was to create a jungle here, not typically one kind of crop. This is not a monoculture plantation. So you see the different foliage, different patterns from each and every room. Entry of the house is so subtle. It's like a veranda. The car doesn't come right at the phase of the project. It's a journey that is very important. The entry of the house is a very small door. You enter a different space altogether, which is a courtyard, little arches. So that's an element of surprise. This is a coarse courtyard, where you can see the old arches. We constructed this first part of house, where the geometry and the sizes were evolved from the sizes of arches. For one of his clients, it was a formal owner. So that time he bartered his piece with these arches and they would save for 20 years. Every year my grandmother used to get annoyed that this is one big responsibility. After 20 years, when she saw this turned into a space, she was so proud. We have two pavilions, two service areas. One of them is kitchen. Kitchen was like a melting point of all people coming together and discussing and eating together. Even if it is tiny, it looks big. Whoever is in the kitchen can also be part of the activity that is happening outside. We'll have inward look house with a continuous space. The overall planning was having different layers. We have different codes and different light quality. This construction language continues in second phase. The roofing part we changed here. And this is the second courtyard. It has this column and bracket pavilion. The column height was a little less. As per the volume, we required a little bit high. So we have added this height. Use the same geometry and design language to increase the overall height. We wanted to have four bedrooms. Each one of us having one bedroom. And this was constructed in the second phase of the house. This space is extension of the old house. The rooms were surrounding the existing trees. We incorporated them in the design. Since the old house has a tapered masonry, we wanted to create a passage in between. Detaching the old and new structure. We created a space that acts as a pause space and then study space, dressing area. Even if we are the architects, the client is my mother. And she is the one who maintains the house. And that's why it was her requirement not to have random double masonry. Because it accumulates a lot of dust. And this is a simpler masonry. And also the window here. It is deliberately kept so that you can have the extended view of the landscape from the room. All the furniture is made by Indian carpenters. Some of the furniture was made on site by our carpenters. And some of them were procured from the old market. So some of the chairs and all are antique. We were not very particular. And this wood colour, though antique, it's different than this wood colour. Because both of them are from different designers. So with the house came the gazebo. As the house developed, as the needs increased, as the funding came, we started adding one thing after the other. The swimming pool came and became part of this complex. By the time the swimming pool was built, this particular greenery was all developed. So it gave a natural screen to the swimming pool and it became a little private area. There is also a big veranda on the rear side. And an amphitheater. Each is the result of the contours available on the site. The character of the house was envisaged as a robust house with a rustic stone masonry. And the random rubble stone masonry with sun joint gives a different character to the house. And also the cost effectiveness. No point you see harsh light. No point the direct sunlight enters the face. But at the same time, you fly most of the day in this face. That is what he, my mother and all, we envisaged this face to be. Like we want no walls, no doors. Just open, live in nature. The concept was to have three hours. Reduce, recycle and reuse. The result we got is again three hours. Relax, revive and regenerate.