By Nisha Parikh

This Ahmedabad based studio creates a bold resort which is a home to sixteen cottages. It is located at the very edge of Gir National Park which is the sole home of the Asiatic lion. The design language followed is vernacular in a contemporary style.

The structure is eye-catching and majestic at sight. Inspired by nature and corresponding with the region’s main highlight, The Lion. The cottages are circular in design, making the guest feel cozy, protected and one with nature. The design consequently became a physical interpretation of primal, yet human, home-making instincts, but with an association between the abstract and the organic.

Highlight of the project could be pointed to the fact that none of the trees in the sprawling campus (having mango trees at 30 feet in the grid) were cut or moved in the design process. Also, all the wild species of plants found on-site and around were propagated. The cottages were designed to grow around the trees and were integrated into the built environment, furthering the design direction of “embrace nature gently”.

One enters the resort through a long pathway lined by trees leading you from the farms to the resort. The visitors will get a feeling of hide and seek and a  sense of drama and mystery as they get a peek of the resort through the foliage of forest landscape. A short walk on a random pathway along the landscape before entering the cottage builds up an element of anticipation

An earthy feel is achieved by using locally available thin exposed bricks. The techniques adopted to make this project on a tight budget are random rubble stone foundation load bearing exposed brick walls, arches, sandstone jalis, and clay tile roof. The honesty and simplicity of materials and techniques employed are not just time tested and reliable but clearly reflect a cultural sensitivity towards the area.

The resort houses 16 cottages having 2 informal living room, 1 dining area, and a big multi-purpose hall.

The retreat is conceptualized in a way that it reduces the total footprint and also is economical. It has four clusters, each with four cottages. Two cottages on the lower floor and two above it.  Each cluster has large foyer space shaded by a mango tree that welcomes the visitors before entering into the cottage. Two of them have courtyards with additional facilities of semicovered spaces, living rooms, and pantry. Courtyards, a transition space created by the designer beautifully separates a private space and semi-open space, which also has inbuilt sit-outs from sandstone.

Balcony with an unobstructed view and the outer open helical stairway acts as a medium of connection between cottages maintaining privacy yet making a statement. Material used in the stairway is Kota that adds texture and drama to the space and has an open riser too. From frames, stones, bricks to labors, and all possible requirements were locally managed within the radius of 50kms from the site.

The region has a hot and dry climate, usually with harsh sunlight; hence, the designer decided to create circular-shaped cottages with tiny openings, windows. The circular shape has many benefits, less direct sun rays are perpendicular, best for structural stability, and requires 10% less wall than a square or rectangle wall. An engaging play of circular mass is carried out by voids, and massing.  Here the advantage also lies as it’s a rocky trail that saves stability and foundation requirements.

The guests in the resort are served with in-house organic vegetable harvests with the site’s unique greens and reused rainwater-runoff to water the farms.

A beautiful and strong underlying cohesiveness has been achieved through simple play of volumes, spatial plannings, light and shadows, private and public spaces that in turn oozes soothing experiences at various places in the resort.

Below are a few photos of the project.

PROJECT DETAILS:

Architect: Ar Himanshu Patel, d6thdD Design Studio

Himanshu Patel is an Ahmedabad based architect who studied architecture (Batch of 2006) from M.S. University. After graduation, he worked at one of the foremost international architectural firms (Arif & Bintoak) in Emirates. His research work as a CM fellow (2009) on high-profile Gujarat Tourism projects has been well recognized in social development under the Chief Minister’s Fellowship Program.

His practice in vernacular architecture is inextricably bound with his entire childhood spent in a village. Since last five years, his Ahmedabad based d6thD design studio promotes the use of locally available materials, traditional building techniques, and culturally and climatically relevant building design. The study of his executed works in different regions of Gujarat reflects his perseverance to design with overt principle of vernacular architecture.

He has also lectured and conducted workshops on vernacular architecture in several schools of architecture across India.

One of the next-gen architects, he is highly active on his Instagram profile.

Project Name: Shyam Farm Forest Resort

Typology: Eco-Resort

Built-up Area: 1300 sq.mt

Site Area: 1.5 acre

Cost: 1,25,00,000 INR

Location: Bhojde village, Gir lion sanctuary, Gujarat, India

Photography: Maulik Patel

Drawings: Nitin Panchal