2 square house

Ahmedabad area, Gujarat    2010 - 2013

Two heavy cubes, connected by a bridge and sheltered by steel supported roof shades, house four bedrooms, kitchen, dining and gathering spaces that open onto a deep verandah and extend into a long garden outside.

The pitched roof is pulled apart at the ridge to allow light in, and hot air out, while its double layered structure uses the ventilated air space between two surfaces to mediate the sun's heat. Openings that cut through the length of the building allow air to pass through the ground floor and rise to release from first floor spaces.

Inside, pivoted glass frames sit canted so that they could be cut from one piece of wood, a fabricated pulley system with silken threads opens clerestory windows, and marble door panels let diffuse light into a puja space adorned by the light sprinkled from hammered brass chhatri.