GoodEarth River Song

  • Land area : 2.12 acres
  • No of Families: 34
  • Typology: 6 Villas and 28 Villaments
  • Home sizes: 1750 to 3800 sq ft
  • Completed in 2015
  • Architects: Space ART

Green walls wrap this entire community. The green climbers acknowledges its new context. The gregarious thumbergia glandiflora covers the entire trellis stating its domain. A long and winding road takes us to this commune of 34 families by the Mampuzha River on a hillock. A combination of villas and villaments make this community. The site profile allowed the design to evolve with options of split levels for the villas without much disturbance and single level for the villaments. The terrain being steep helped in organizing the parking for the villaments, supporting a vehicular free upper court level. The C- shaped villament encloses a central green court -a space where the transitional corridors look into, covered by a tensile roof structure . The sweeping perspectives of the coconut groves and the river are breath-taking from every unit.

Composite masonry helps in warding off the harsh western heat, wherein the court allows the breeze to ventilate and cool the units as it blows. The materials used are hollow blocks and bricks which further support in bringing down the micro temperature. The green creepers on the trellis assist in naturally cooler ,healthier and cleaner air , other than its aesthetic appeal. The idioms of nature are also seen as motifs in the masonry.

The vibrancy of earth colours alleviate the mind. Bamboo chimes and textures of terracotta and ochre acknowledges the visitor. The singly- loaded corridors look into the court below, covered by a generous tensile roof canopy. Motifs of nature are reinterpreted in masonry and also rhythmically become skylights ,filtering light for the court below. Each frame shows different layers of treatment textured masonry, with a green backdrop, brick with its brilliant colour and the series of bamboo which form the musical ceiling.

The material palette is a mix of rustic terracotta , stone , pine wood ,textures of masonry, earth hues and hand-loom weaves which have a simplistic allure without being overbearing. One realizes that understating of interior treatment enhances the spatial quality , increasing the user comfort and experience. Art interspersed within niches speak of the need for craft .

The individual sky balconies has sweeping views of the green undulating hills ,where dreams get realized. Skylights add to the play of light and shadows on the adjacent planes. Simple and basic furniture add to the sense of space .The dining and kitchen spaces seamlessly moving in sync add to the fact that home is where the heart is.