Volumes and Textures Characterise this Chandigarh Home
Viewport Studio channelled Chandigarh’s European modernist history to create this home conceived of a series of interconnected blocks
The city of Chandigarh is known for its unique architecture and city planning, originally spearheaded by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. The city is also home to the Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, at 12 hectares the largest in Asia — and the neighbour of this home by London- and Singapore-based Viewport Studio, which drew on both elements in its design.
‘The connection to nature was important,’ says studio director Voon Wong, noting that the house is also built around existing mature mango trees. The clients, who had worked in Singapore for a long time, had returned to their country of birth, and tasked Viewport with creating ‘a simple and comfortable family home for the them and their daughters, who visit occasionally from abroad.’
‘The house is a rectangular block, with windows and deep terraces punctuating the rigorous form,’ says Wong. ‘It’s a compact structure with openings that frame the landscape and moderate the climate, such as the east-facing terraces that allow views of the Rose Garden while shielding the house from the summer sun.’
But behind this cohesive massing, the team created an intriguing series of volumes conceived, says Wong, as a stack of blocks that define functions and spaces. ‘On the ground floor, the blocks house subsidiary spaces like the garage, kitchen and guest quarters, while the living and dining spaces are within the open-plan space between the blocks,’ he says.
The concept continues on the first floor, where the blocks form three bedroom suites and a study, with an open-plan family area and stair void that runs north to south, perpendicular to the east-west open space on the ground floor below. ‘The intersection of the two open-plan spaces is naturally lit by a marble-clad skylight, which provides soft illumination to the centre of the house,’ says Wong. ‘And each bedroom has a private balcony that also helps to moderate temperature extremes.’
Regional influences appear, with the facades finished in a pink lime render traditional to Rajasthan. ‘The aggregate makes the house to change hue and texture according to how and where the sun hits it,’ says Wong. Internal finishes were also kept simple and clean, with white plastered walls and neutral flooring. Offcuts of the marble used in the skylight are set in render as flooring for outdoor terraces. Against this minimal backdrop, the clients’ personal collection of contemporary European pieces and Asian and Indian antiques create a space that nods to both the city and the homeowners’ own stories.
Wong is most pleased with the porosity, ‘It’s something we enjoy,’ he says. ‘The fact that you can see the full width, depth and height of the house as you enter, with cross views of the garden we created by aligning the windows in both directions.’
Text by Philip Annetta
Images by Guo Jie Khoo
