EXISTING PLACE

Reviving an old house into a hospitality experience

Professional Project 2022 Matial, Uttarakhand

An intervention within a historic building itself, the project looked to revive an old structure belonging to the colonial era of British India. Originally built as a bakery, this stone structure was retrofitted post-independence, as a home by the local village chief.

However, today the building faced many challenges, structurally and experientially. Due to poor insulation, it remained sparsely occupied throughout the year. The rooms added in the tall, central volume remained cut off from views or sunlight, making them cold and intimidating. The living space, due to its linear arrangement, created dead pockets and restricted interaction with the beautiful hills outside.

In order to revive its occupancy, and allow more people to enjoy this experience, the building was re-imagined as a rentable hospitality suite. The design focused on enhancing the experience of the occupants while celebrating the present building in all its truth and glory.

Being the ‘Project Architect’, this was a fascinating learning in adaptive reuse. Apart from the technical challenges of intersecting new and old structures, it led to interesting questions of overlapping narratives and implications of retention or change.

Project Role

Concept Design | Design Development | Site co-ordination

Project Team

Studio Lotus : Ambrish Arora | Ansel Colaco

Status

Construction drawing

Adapted as an old house, the bedrooms were currently located in the central higher volume. This made it cold and intimidating experience, without direct sunlight or connection with views outside.

The central, larger volume was re-designed to host inter-connected public spaces. The side flanks, with a lower volume, were redesigned as cozy, intimate bedrooms with framed views of the mountains.

Sequence Interventionof

Existing Condition

Proposed Extension

Capturing views & sun across the day

Professional Project

2022

WHERE CAN ‘VERNACULAR’ & ‘CONTEMPORARY’ MEET?

Matial, Uttarakhand

Building a contemporary resort within the serene hills of Uttarakhand, posed an interesting challenge. On one hand, in an attempt to create authentic user experiences, our team looked to create a design informed by the context. While on the other hand, we became aware of the reality that ‘local materials’ themselves are becoming scarce and instead of mining further, require conservation.

Vernacular knowledge systems are a great lesson in building in sync with the cultural and ecological context. In the hilly Himalayan region, the local architecture is known as ‘Kath Kuni’ construction - which involves the use of timber and stone to create interlocking load-bearing walls.

But in the absence of these materials, we relied on careful re-interpretation. We studied the local scale and form, to create humble spaces. The project looked to re-examine the idea of luxury in hospitality by prioritizing connection with nature instead of grand gestures. Instead of mining for stone walls, we used stone obtained from the excavation to develop hybrid wall sections. Instead of timber bands, we used glulam to create a lightweight timber roof structure and reclaimed wood as facade shingles.

As the ‘Project Architect’ of the ‘Public Building’, seeing the project from concept to construction, allowed me to learn and collaborate with various people - from expert consultants to masons on site.

Project Role

Concept Explorations | Design Development | Construction administration

Project Team

Studio Lotus : Ambrish Arora | Ansel Colaco | Mohit Goel

Status

Construction

Evolution of building programme & resulting form

Building along the contour Maximising the views

Programme expansion

Pool incorporated to minimize built

Served and serving spaces

Incorporating ‘Back of House’

Recreating the mountain village, the Public building caters to 20 keys & supporting services Overall Site Plan

Programme consolidation

Universally accessible rooms added

Challenges of recreating the past

Despite lack of ‘local materials’, informed the design by studying vernacular form & construction

Traditional vocabulary, contemporary material application

Cantilevering entry level structure was designed using Glulam, while stone from excavation were used in walls

Concrete Retaining wall + Framed structure + Stone walls

Re-interpreting vernacular form with contemporary program

Creating an intimate scale, the section was designed in steps to work with the contour instead of against them.

At any given moment, the user thus experiences a single story space, making it more homely instead of an intimidating experience

Merging vernacular material with contemporary energy-efficient standards

Working with the stone locally excavated during the process of digging foundations, various wall sections were devised to incorporate insulation within traditional materials to result in ecologically high performing facade system

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