A brief boat journey from Mumbai, Dua Villa, in Alibaug, is the right getaway in all seasons, from the monsoon’s torrential rain in July to the scorching excessive temperatures by way of Could. Constructed by Structure Brio, an award-winning agency with places of work in Mumbai and Rotterdam, the house was designed as a refuge from the town all year long.
The home and grounds – 5 acres of gardens designed by Kunal Maniar & Associates – have been conceived as one, with water options and a swimming pool superbly enmeshed within the spacious dwelling. For the homeowners, a pair with three teenage kids, the villa’s chunky brick partitions arrange a comfortable enclave, sheltering them from the unpredictable climate. ‘Our shoppers wished to have the ability to get away from the town and really feel immersed on this panorama, whereas nonetheless feeling cocooned from the weather,’ says architect Shefali Balwani, who labored on the mission with accomplice and co-founder Robert Verrijt.
(Picture credit score: Randhir Singh)
A stroll by way of this Indian villa by Structure Brio
Whereas the architects consult with the design of the home as being comparatively easy, it’s, the truth is, a extremely complicated composition, expertly made to look easy. The gently curvaceous, rendered brick partitions, with arched home windows, doorways and enfilades, are cleverly juxtaposed with an orthogonal flooring plan. ‘The design is partially about experiencing the motion of the solar all through the day, creating silhouettes throughout the inside, not dissimilar to a sundial,’ says Verrijt.
The 2 primary our bodies of water, the pool and the trough-like water characteristic on the entrance, additional animate the encircling surfaces, inside and outside. The partitions’ materials palette – a sand-faced plaster exterior and a lime plaster inside – permits the sunshine, as a lot because the floor composition, to come back to the fore.
(Picture credit score: Randhir Singh)
The home options formal residing areas in the direction of the entrance. Two courtyard gardens loosely delineate the extra public areas from the beneficiant sleeping quarters and visitor lodging, with varied sheltered outside areas blurring the division between inside and outside. The lounge is laid out with a built-in terrazzo desk and benches set inside a deep curved arched window that gives each a safety from the weather and a connection to the backyard.
The identical consideration to element may be discovered within the library’s pale stone built-in bookshelves or the eating room’s olive limestone-bordered marble flooring. Resembling a handwoven rug, it’s as bespoke because the round brass panels on the door handles. ‘These panels have been impressed by Mies van der Rohe’s German interval,’ says Verrijt, who enjoys integrating historic nods into most of the follow’s designs.
(Picture credit score: Randhir Singh)
An exterior staircase resulting in a water tower that extends 6m above the partitions supplied the architects a chance to raise the practical to an artwork kind. ‘We noticed these stairs extra akin to sculpture,’ says Balwani, who considers the panorama as pivotal to the success of this mission. 4 bottle brush bushes, framed by massive boulders on the foot of the exterior stairs, add a poetic contact.
It’s tough to reconcile the quiet atmosphere of this property with its proximity to the busy Indian metropolis. ‘It’s like time has stopped right here, like strolling by way of the areas in gradual movement,’ says Verrijt, declaring the mild curves of the outside wall as they meet the clear blue sky.
(Picture credit score: Randhir Singh)
architecturebrio.com
A model of this text seems within the April 2025 situation of Wallpaper* , obtainable in print on newsstands from 6 March 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple Information +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* toda
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