project: Govardhan Villa
Architects: Amruta Daulatabadkar Architects adaa
Site: Aurangabad, India
region: 3804 sf
year: 2022
photos by: PHX India
Govardhan Villa by Amruta Daulatabadkar Architects adaa
Amruta Daulatabadkar Architects adaa designed Villa Govardhan, a stunning luxury residence located in Aurangabad, India. It has just under 4,000 square feet of luxurious living space and was recently completed. The minimalist contemporary principles used in the design of the villa interiors aim to create a residence where spaces seamlessly connect and become one with the surrounding landscape.
Govardhan Villa has worked on principles of minimalism in planning with a contemporary collection in interiors to create a home with seamlessly connected spaces that reach beyond the walls and become one with the surrounding landscape. The layout is done with reference to two axes, the east-west axis from the main entrance to the staircase acting as a central circulation shaft, while the north-south axis facilitates visual communication both inside and outside the house.
With Vaastu principles applied, the kitchen, living room and master bedroom are laid out in SE, N and SW directions respectively. While the food is placed in the core as a double-height space, facilitating the entry of light as well as visual and audio communication. Double height living enhances the space’s connection to air, light, and landscape through windows that rise twice as high. Since the floor plan takes up almost all of the buildable space, the small extent of landscaping within the side margins is used to wrap the house with plants.
The courts are strategically planned to serve as extended spaces for leisure but moreover to enhance the home experience from within. The north and south landscape pockets connect the living and dining spaces, making the axis a connected space through and through the landscape, making the experience spacious, open and connected. The staircase with its adjoining court also facilitates the experience of connection inside and outside the house while mediating movement through the levels of the house. The terraces, planter beds, and windows on the upper levels play to continue the language of communication within and outside the spaces.
Simplicity fused with a modern theme becomes the theme of the interior design, carrying forward the concepts of continuity and connection. A simple color palette helps achieve this, as wood cladding continues from the ground floor walls to the second floor ceiling, while stone glazed tile cladding continues from the inner courtyard to the outer facade. Furniture items such as the custom-made carved wood headboard in the master bedroom continued on the outside as well.
This catches up to the experience of continuity and expansion, connecting the myriad home experiences into one. Skylights, pergolas and screens elevate the play of light. Thus, the architecture evokes combinations of space, plants, and light, making each glimpse into a somewhat new experience. Encapsulated landscaping, strategic openings, skylights, terraces, interior windows, and expansive exterior windows keep the home connected inside and out. The bungalow is designed on an area of 3000 square metres. The Ft plot with a comparatively less landscape footprint is designed to be experienced as a spacious, open, connected and green living space.
– Amruta Daulatabadkar Architects adaa
