The Verdant Villa

Starting as a landscape development project, this assignment progressed to a renovation exercise revolving around seamlessly integrating two separate residences into a single family home in a short time frame of nine months. Rather than form, the intervention focused on a lifestyle that was closely linked to nature, and thus landscape became a powerful element within the narrative which encouraged a conversation between the interior and the exterior. The design respects the delicate tension between a built-form and nature by allowing the landscape to become one with the structure and weaving courtyards into the built narrative. Pathways become part of nature; and nature becomes an integral part of the built-up. The front facade, though plain, is animated by green elements. It is covered with creepers, and trees and plants of the landscape merge with the existing green milieu to create an avenue. Internally, the family living area on the ground floor became the link that connected the two built-masses. The placement of the courtyards gives a unique dimension to spatial experience, while the chosen (human) scale bestows a feeling of intimacy.