In many ways, the Lateral Verandah House is a logical continuation of the House of Three Streams.
Although they were simultaneously designed and built, they are on the same property.
This house is situated farther down the steep and heavily wooded terrain. The house was informed by the intersection of the ravines.
At this time, The House of Three Streams has left the site’s limits, and the slopes are now a little shallower.
The memory of “Place” is important in this area because Tung Fort is close to the East, the terrain has a unique topography, there is dense forestation, and the climate is unique—especially when you consider the eddying wind currents caused by Pawna Dam’s expansive area to the North/East and the low-lying hills to the South/South-West.
Due to the accompanying wind, rain rarely falls vertically during the monsoon, which is furious but beautiful.
The house is divided into two main levels, with the lower level housing the bedroom quarters and the upper level housing the public spaces.
The ceiling adjusts to the progressive level change by moving in step with the stepping plinth. As it offers shade and frames the near and far views, it undulates, moves, sidesteps, hovers, and lets the hill and the existing trees to pass.
Because of the way its structural ‘Trees’ are intertwined with the flitched rafters, it is positioned in the landscape as a natural resting place on the way down the hill.
The proposal is anchored to the earth by raw basalt walls. These hefty components are transformed into a built landscape by the commonality and historical use of this stone in every type of shelter, from the village cottage to the forts.
Something less identifiable but still familiar, something more transitory but visceral, replaces the anticipated impression of encountering a House.
There are references to the environment and the past everywhere. As the House is reached, a cylinder rises from the surrounding terrain and refers to the fort bastions.
The House’s organizational structure prevents a clear entry point or defined boundaries, the “made” and “found” merge, and space and movement flow freely, much like an organism that has achieved a unique homeostasis in nature.
ARCHDAILY
