The Epicurus by Vihar Fadia Architects
The Epicurus is a spacious brick weekend residence located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, designed in 2021 by Vihar Fadia Architects.
Description
“Like Epicures once said, a good food, good friends and good wine is the perfect way to live the life.”- I wanted a place where I can enjoy and live my people.” the client Mr Yash Vasant briefed the concept for his house. “The house should be the place where I can take a pause from my daily routine, energize and get back to routine.” He added. Thus this became the purpose of build this weekend home. The client wanted his 3BHK with library hall, a home theatre and bar area included with common functions like living room and kitchen areas.
The plan of the house is simply distributed in two floors without disturbing each activity. The ground floor of the house is consisting of the living room, kitchen and dining areas, bedrooms and library (study) areas. The first floor is provided with the Indoor Game Area, Lounge Area, home theatre and bar. The outdoors of each floors having good spaces where they can sit and enjoy the nature.
As the home intended to be gathering and celebrant space, it is designed in an inclusive nature which strengthens the bond between the client and his guests. The gathering areas mainly divided in three loops called indoor gathering, deck gathering and outdoor gathering. The indoors and outdoors are intricately harmonized with each other with a deck areas at the ground floor. When the site was handed over, there are many existing trees and vegetation which are kept untouched and placed the functions accordingly.
The rectangular house is placed on a square plinth longitudinally placed in east-west direction. At the north, an exposed concrete frame at the first floor clearly direct towards the entrance porch of the house. The floating steps beneath the frame lead towards the pivoted entrance of the house. As soon as one enters from the doors, a large, living room visually connected to the deck area at the south. The fenestrations and doors are placed in a manner which clearly gets the views outside.
Walking towards the south, there are bedrooms placed in west face while you will have a glance of kitchen and library covering the east face. While walking a more towards south, there is a sliding opening connects a swimming pool placed in south west. An infinity edged pool is not just enhance the aesthetics but also severs climatically. The deck east to the deck is planned for the recreational activities. A concrete staircase projected from the pool lead to the upper floor.
A small terrace welcomes you at the first floor as you step up the stairs. Upper floor is provided with the home theatre, a bar space and a poker game area. The door opens in the large lounge area that emphasizes the casual gathering. The lounge area is decorated with the modern bright coloured furniture that breaks the raw-look of the interior. The full heighted glass façade to the home theatre is given so that it does not break the outside views. The contrasting flooring became the odd-out yet harmonized element for the poker game area. All with the raw looks, bright- modern interior, the openings and direct views to outsides help to create and maintain the inclusivity. Coming back to the terrace, the glass deck extinction above the pool gives the feeling of walking over the water.
The entire hose is built in exposed materials. These exposed look of the materials is inspired by the brief of the client which focuses on the bonds and quality. The exposed exterior of the building intricately emerges with the surrounded landscape. To enhance the experience of the exposed materials the designing of the interior elements are also kept in their raw look. The exposed surfaces and open ceilings purely give the glace of the industrial revolutionary architectural era. The selections of the bright coloured furniture, art pieces and floorings help to break the raw look of the interiors and tell out for the modernity. Although two different styles are selected to design the house it does not break or over ruled the characteristics of each other but simply harmonize with each style. With these inclusive nature this building servers for the purpose for what it was built- the gatherings.
Photography by Inclined Studio
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- by Matt Watts
