COMMENDATION
Weekend House at Amby Valley, Lonavala
Architect: _Opolis Architects
Commendation Note:
This weekend residence by _Opolis Architects in Lonavala takes advantage of a site with a gradient towards the valley and views of the surrounding hills to create architecture that has a rare ‘quality of quietude’. With a section that follows the lay of the land, this house for a large number of diverse users arrives at an equilibrium that amalgamates form, space, material and ambience into an experience that exaggerates the potential of the site.
The plan of the house carves out a common court that frames the view of the hills from an expansive living space. The sense of calmness and retreat is not lost to the scale and there is a general design control that lets the house stand independently by neither being alien to its setting and nor being completely consumed by the spectacle of the site. While the architecture of this house is able to generate an aura that the site deserves, it deals with known relationships in space and material.
A super-size weekend house has become a common type a contemporary architectural practice deals with. In many cases, the lack of constraints and access to wealth results in lack of control and an ‘architecture of indulgence’. Being a family house, this Weekend Residence by _Opolis Architects takes a different view of that potential through controlled selection and a keen eye for detail [rather than accumulation of elements] and therefore, is a Commendation project in The Merit List.
Architect: _Opolis Architects
Project Design Team: Sonal Sancheti, Rahul Gore, Shailesh Kunte, Niel Parekh, Ketki Bhadkamkar
Site Area: 1.5 Acres
Built-up Area: 10,000sqft
Structural Consultants: M/s Siddharth J. Chikani
Carpentry: M/S Sangelkar Furnishers
Plumbing: M/S V.R. Tulla & co.
Electrical: M/S Nashwin Electric Pvt. Ltd
Landscape: M/S Dilip Nagale
Contractor: M/S Vikas Constructions, Lonavala
Year of Commencement-Completion: 2012-2014
Photographs: Ariel Huber – ‘courtesy the architects’