THE WALL HOUSE

INTRODUCTION

PROJECTS NAME :- WALL HOUSE

ARCHITECT :- ANUPAMA KUNDOO

ZONE :- HOT AND HUMID

LOCATION :- AUROVILLE ,TAMIL NADU CORDINATES :- 12°0′25″N 79°48′38″E POPULATION :- 2,305.

CLIMATE :- TEMPERATURE-

MAXIMUM- 40°C (105.0 °F) MINIMUM- 20 °C (68 °F).

ANNUAL RAINFALL- AVERAGE IS 1,200 MM (47 IN) MAINLY FROM THE SW MONSOON (JUNE TO SEPT.)

AND NE MONSOON (NOV TO DEC) WITH A DRY PERIOD OF APPROX 6 MONTHS.

CLIMATIC CONSIDERATIONS

THE MAIN DESIGN OBJECTIVE SHOULLD BE-

1. Resisting heat

1. Decreasing area of the building expose to the outside.

2. Using materials that take a longer time to heat up.

3. Providing buffer spaces between the outside and inside.

4. Increasing shading of the building in general.

5. Using materials that reflect heat.

2. Promoting heat loss

1. Appliances used are well ventilated.

2. Proper ventilation occur through the day.

3. Humidity level are reduce as much as possible.

3. Water bodies are not essential.

In hot and humid climate region high temperature are accompanied by high humidity level leading to immense discomfort. Cross ventilation is hence very essential here. Adequate shading measures are also necessary to protect the building from direct solar radiations.

4. Building should be spread out with large open

spaces for unrestricted air movement.

5. Heat and moisture producing areas like toilet

And kitchen must be ventilated and seprated

from the rest of the structure.

6. The forms of roof and wall should be planned

to promote air flow.

7. Cross ventilation is at most important.

8. The wall should be painted with light petals

shades and white wash.

WALL HOUSES The key concept of the house is as

extending right into the landscape,with no physical boundaries.

The wall house is a line drawn in nature.

Entrance is dramatic, double –height, soaring vaulted space.

A narrow linear block to one side of entrance contains all the private spaces.

First floor has same linear forms, to accommodate bedroom, dressing room and terrace with magical open – tosky bathroom

Its narrow dimension are accented by a light, airy extension, framed in glass and metal that accommodate the bed.

Says Anupama, ‘The design of the house ensures that the private activities are cocooned into secluded secure spaces, while the public living areas are large and open to nature.’

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

EXPERIMENTS The search was two-fold:

the first being the exploration of technologies of low impact, but pucca structures that are healthy, climatically comfortable, structures that can form the basis of an aesthtically pleasing building language.

The second, eco-friendly infrastructure to take care of the running needs of the settlement in terms of water, waste and energy management through renewable sourcesas well as passive

PLAN

GROUND FLOOR LANFIRST FLOOR PLAN

1. ENTRANCE2. SIT OUT3. LIVING4. KITCHEN5. STORE

6. GUEST ROOM7. TOILET8. STUDIO9. BEDROOM10.STUDY AREA

11. WALK IN WARDROBE12. TOILET13. OPEN TO SKY TERRACE14. MEDITATION SPACE15. PRIVATE LVING

16. OPEN TO SKY TERRACE 17. POOL

CLIMATE RESPONSIVE The plan of the house, with its narrow

spaces, responds to the hot and humid climate, as it allows maximum cross-ventilation.

Aligned along a south-east north-west axis, the house has small openings in front and large openings at the rear to create effective air channels, which optimize ventilation.

The double height volume enhances the air stack movement, and increases the upward drafts of the ventilation.

The hot air rising inside the covered spaces is forced out through openings in the vault, and as the roofs are also designed to be insulating, heat radiation is minimized.

CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM

The exposed brick facades by using local achakal bricks of the same 18 cm x 10 cm x 2.5 cm are used.

The bricks are set with raked joints in lime mortar, to which 10% cement has been added for initial setting strength.

The thickness of the walls varies between 30, 20 and 10 cm, with specially designed bonds, as they do not follow the usual 1:2 proportions.

The foundations are of cement-stabilized rammed earth – the earth having been procured from the same foundation pits.

Architect has also experimented with different roofing systems. Catenary vaults of hollow clay tubes have been used for climatic insulation, which also eliminates the need for structural steel that one sees in roofs today.

There are vaults in the ground floor where achakal bricks are used as structural supports.

The flat terraced roof over the guest room has been built by using hollow burnt clay trapezoidal extruded modules over partly precast beams, as in the jack arch – these modules were specially manufactured locally for the purpose of finding insulated roofing solutions to flat roofs.

For the intermediate floor, terracotta pots are used as fillers to increase the effective depth of concrete, while minimizing the volume of concrete and steel in the slabs that did require to be insulated. ‘One of our aims was to demonstrate that structural materials can also be used as finishing materials.’

SPACES It is a simple house, with clearly defined lines and

masses

play in volumes makes it hard to distinguish where the inside ends and the outside begins. Long steps, which continue from the inside onto the garden outside on both sides, create a further demarcation of spaces.

A dramatic soaring vaulted space, more than two storeys high, marks the entry point. This is a transition space, extending into the landscape, a living space with no physical boundaries.

To the right, a narrow linear, concrete block in exposed brick, runs from north to south.

Just 2.2 m wide inside, this block contains all the private space in the house.

A free-standing ‘zigzag’ flight of polished, greenpainted, concrete stairs leads to the first floor,

the same linear form embraces a study, a bedroom, a dressing room and an external terrace with a magical open-to-sky bathroom at first floor. It is almost like a corridor; indeed so narrow that to accommodate the bed and the dining space, a light glass and metal framed extension is plugged into the external wall to the east of the brick tube.

LIGHT The bedroom, with glass louvers on three sides, completely opens out

under the canopy of an old tree,

The private side of the wall (to the west) opens out into a 4-m-wide double-height veranda, which is protected by thin steel mesh on a wooden structure.

Thus this area is full of natural, glare-free light, and allows one to enjoy the sunsets from here.

The house is planned in such a way that the inside and out side spaces integrates, as a result of which it minimizes the use of artificial light.

The house runs entirely on solar energy through solar photovoltaics that take care of all electrical demands.

VERNACULAR POINTS Everything in the house is natural and appropriate,

from the historic local achakal brick to the natural stone used for the sills and lintels and the long steps that lead to the garden. A green-painted concrete stairway leads upstairs. The interiors need no extraneous ‘decoration’ – the honesty of materials and wealth of interesting forms tell their own story.

A serene sit-out, set in a garden that accentuates the rugged beauty of natural stone.

The dining table, built of recycled wood: a single old rosewood column, whose natural texture has been left as is – and it can be reassembled back to the form of the original log.

Simple, clearly defined lines and masses are used to form a play with volumes that blur the transition between inside and outside. The soaring vaulted roof of hollow clay tubes eliminates the need for structural steel and provides effective insulation.

An unusual bathroom, with another experimental roof form, and rough granite for a washbasin counter and ‘back to nature’ shower.

The living areas are open to the outdoors. Inserted into the wall is a beam of recycled teak that serves as a study table.

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