Residential group. Visit to Jalvayu Vihar and its Architect.

Monday, 1st August:

Being inside a place like Jalvayu Vihar totally over weighed the tedious and long journey to the place. The residential colony was beautiful and serene, fully constructed with stone and 3 leveled buildings. We could hardly hear the bustling and loud noise around the colony inside, nor did we feel like we were walking around in a 24 acre plot. This could have also been cause of the greenery around.It had 3 blocks for houses, an over head water tank,a shopping complex, a community center and a school. We managed to talk to a few residents and find out more about the place. They said that the colony separated them from the outside world, and they felt safe, secure and comfortable inside. The few things we loved most about the place was the stone building, the vast greenery, the signage's and the passage ways in between houses. On our way back we got the name of the architects who designed Jalvayu and made a plan to meet them the next day.

Tuesday, 2nd August:

We met Mr. Navanath Kanade from Shilpa Sindoor Architects today. They designed Jalvayu Vihar. Meeting Mr. Kanade was a major break through for all of us. We learnt a lot and he got us thinking into many things which we would have never thought about.

He spoke about:

-How to humanize a space?

-Visual Identification of the place.

-What it stands for?

-Changing the complexion and function of the place.

-How placing houses in a line lacks social interaction and how having them facing each other in clusters gives more interaction space.

-Courtyards

-Parabolas

-Dimensions

-Multiple entrances

-Outdoor spaces

-How spaces work?

-Terraces which open to a courtyard.

-How courtyards act as a magnet for interaction

-How sizes of building or houses should vary.

-Intimate ways of walking (walking in between and across houses)

-Shadow patters.

-LOCATION

-Visually identification of houses through colours.

-How wind and light come into the house and leave.

-Percentage of window area on a wall.

-How windows should be based on interiors of the place.

-Indoor plants being injurious to health

We saw how they did their layouts and 3d models. It was very interesting and we saw photos of some of the other houses they designed.

After the meeting we got into a serious discussion over lunch on how our houses should be placed and located. We strongly stood by what he said on clustered spaces for more interaction. So we sketched out many ideas where, the houses face each other with a courtyard in the center for interaction. More ideating and sketching need to go into that area. But we have a rough idea on what we are planning to do.

Also due to expansion of space for later development in the residential area, the allocated area is fine but the entrance and the 100 ft road is blocking 2 acres from the rest of the area. To prevent this we'r coming up with a new plan. It will be posted by tomorrow morning.