Prakriti Aawaas is an Eco Community villa project at Kakkanad, Cochin. Set in prime urban location, the masterplan carefully carves out an eco-sensitive project in the valley. Keeping the green-mosaic as the primary concept, the layout is developed with clusters of villas engulfed in the greenery. Ample yards around the villas allow organic vegetable gardens to be developed in the backside. The villas are set around a large central courtyard, which contains club and swimming pool.
Villa’s habitable spaces are designed around a courtyard. Simple and effective planning ensures minimum wastage of space. All rooms are provided with ample daylight and ventilation. Several features such as exposed brick walls, stone masonry, courtyard, terrace garden, organic vegetable garden, bay windows, verandas & balconies with Karaekudy wooden pillars and timber truss roof etc provide unique experience or natural materials and local traditions.
This private guest house is designed in the picturesque Brooklyn coffee estates in Yercaud. The sloping topography and lush green estate demanded a minimalistic approach to design, where buildings are mere shelters. The challenge was to reduce the elements of design so that the building lose its character and give more importance to the surrounding landscape. Flat concrete slabs float above tiny metal columns. The inside and outside merge as large sliding windows connect them physically and visually. An attempt to design with nature to create spaces that are memorable landscapes.
The Wild Orchid Estates sits on a naturally beautiful, gently sloping terrain of Yercaud. Flanged by coffee estates and forest lands, this property is lush green and blessed with plenty of large trees and variety of plants. Wild Orchid Estates is planned in 75 acres of land. This is planned as a eco-community project with members owning estate acres along with holiday homes. The project is planned with all common facilities for passive and active recreation. Plantation crops of coffee and aromatic plants are preserved and enhanced. Landscape of the campus become the unifying and unique feature of the project, which attempts to exhibit the genius of the eastern ghats. The public areas are treated with such finesse giving an international and yet natural feel.
Luxury & Eco-friendly holiday villas of Wild Orchid were designed with minimum ecological footprint. The design incorporated a seamless blend between indoor and outdoor spaces. The buildings were designed in such a way that none of the trees were cut while setting them, the placement followed the contours. Spaces such as decks, patios, verandas and balconies connected the inside spaces with external courtyards and further with surrounding nature.
Club Orchid is part of the Wild Orchid eco-friendly community project at Yercaud. The large vertical garden and roof garden features merges the club building with the surrounding hill-side landscape. The building is designed with minimum facade and maximum inside volume, an approach opposite to most conemporary concepts. The building’s aesthetics is given least visibility, while the interior spaces seamlessly connects with the valley in front, through large glazed walls, patios and semi-covered spaces.
The club consists of yoga hall, SPA, organic restaurant, home-theater, heritage echo-music room, library, infinity pool etc. Catering to the luxury holiday property of wild orchid, the club is designed with trendy eco-features. Rustic stone walls are built with inside-lit moon-quartz stones. The flooring varies from wood, natural stones, oxide finish etc. A building which is difficult to describe and a pleasure to experience.
Ekantha wellness centre is designed as part of the Common Facilities for the upcoming Teakayen Estates eco-friendly community project in Kodaikanal. Idea Design developed the master plan for the luxury holiday project. The central part of the master plan is the Wellness Centre and Wellness Gardens. Every aspect of the design of wellness centre speaks of eco-sensitive and sustainable approach. Each of the eight wings of the lotus carries unique functional element of human wellness. Developed in the setting of one of the largest organic farms of peninsular India, organic Kitchen, yoga hall, meditation centre, naturopathic wellness, ayurvedic wellness and a wellness lecture hall etc become components of this centre. Wellness Gardens give a therapeutic and rejuvenate experience to the visitors.
This Tropical Resort is designed in the Shevaroy Hills of Eastern Ghats. The site offers rich tropical flora and climate of the hill station. Design follows a balinese theme blended with modern tropical living. Exquisite detailing and fine space making are the underlying theme of this project. Seamless connect of indoor and outdoor spaces brings in symbiotic living with nature.
Kaniyandra House is designed in a wooded acre in the biodiverse midlands of Kerala. The design language is derived for merging the living spaces to surrounding nature and materiality follows elements derived from nature. Clay bricks, granite stones, wooden elements, clay tiles, natural stone flooring etc. provide a distinctive eco sensitive approach to this project. The open plan allows the central living spaces to open to all four wooded yards of the house, while keeping a hierarchy of spaces from visual connection to semi covered verandas, enclosed courtyards and large wooden yards.
Vineyard, is a completed community villa project at Kangarapady, Cochin designed for the members of the Jesus Youth community. The 40 unit project envisages a boarderless community layout, sharing unbuilt spaces, which are expressly landscaped. This unique approach has resulted in a villa layout devoid of compound walls and barriers. The community enjoys seamless interaction between inhabitants of all ages, generating a socially healthy neighbourhood in an era of compartmentalisation and globalisation. Common facilities include parks and playfields, indoor swinmming pool, health club and prayer halls.
This Villa and layout design is developed for an aspiring group of friends who wants to create tropical modern community living. The design sports elements of tropical architecture adapted to modern lifestyle. The layout is developed to absorb rich and biodiverse indigenous landscape of the midlands of western ghats. The approach concentrates on ideas for natural methods for developing biodiversity and water harvesting, ensuring rich agri-scapes and birdlife.
A heritage senior friendly vacation home villa layout is designed in Kanjiramattom. A borderless community living is envisaged, to give the atmosphere of a resort, with villas set in large gardens. Exquisite gardens, lotus ponds and soft pavings provide maximum greenery in this small urban layout. The plan of the villas include 2-bed or 4-bed options with living, dining, pooja/study and a kitchenette. The facilities include a community kitchen, common house keeping, common laundry, dining hall, yoga hall and an ayurvedic wellness centre – fully serviced villas perfect for vacations, renting as home stays or for senior citizens.
This residential project in Nedumbassery is set in a nut-meg grove. The sprawling residence sports open planning around large landscaped courtyards. Designed with climatic architectural considerations, the house receives plenty of daylight and ventilation, suitable for its warm-humid setting.
Colonial influenced exteriors features eclectic and simple interiors and landscape. Living spaces of the residence is set around a huge courtyard with large sliding openings, connecting the indoors seamlessly with the outdoors. The bedroom section opens into yet another courtyard. Decks, patios and balconies enrich the living experience of these spaces.
Teakayen is an Eco Farm Community at Kodai Hills. The club house is set at an attractive location by the side of a large man made reservoir, looking into the outstanding mountainous landscapes. The club house is designed with minimalistic and modern approach of steel and glass, that absorb the view of the beautiful public gardens and reservoir along with faraway misty mountains in the backdrop.
Sembra Valley is an eco-sensitive development in the rare folds of the true nature of Kodai Hills far away from human habitation. A place is created, submerged and surrounded by nature, where an ecological garden becomes the canvas and eco-sensitive architecture plays out as eco-lodges, eco-topos and eco-forums. An organic vegetable farm becomes part of the planned facility, which promises ultimate naturopathic experience.
Living earth is a nature living project in the Cardamom Hills of western ghats. An eco-sensitive approach to carve out living spaces in the canvas of tall and wild trees, spice plantations and breathtaking surroundings. Trails are made without disturbing a single tree, paved with stabilized mud-paths. Drainage swales are made of reused terracotta tiles. Cottages use dry-rubble masonry for retaining walls and foundations. Stabilized and rammed earth walls for super-structure and mountain grass for roofs. Rustic interiors, oxide floors and robust wooden furniture. Zero use of concrete is maintained throughout the project. Climate allows for a low energy footprint.
A layout and villa designs was prepared for Kutralam Hill Eco-community Project in about 30 acres of land is located in a scenic area inside a mango orchard in Courtallam Hills. The fertile soil and humid climate allowed a highly ecological approach to planning and landscape. A total water harvesting plans including couple off large reservoirs were planned. A full fledged club house, landscaped gardens and other amenities and services were also incorporated. Stabilized mud roads and stone pitched swales are planned to minimize use of concrete in the layout. The villas are built with CSEB bricks and mud plastered finish. Use of traditional Tamil Nadu wooden columns and bamboo roofs completed an eco-sensitive approach in material application.
A traditional Kerala Syrian Christian mansion is recreated authentically in this heritage tharavadu design for the eminent Palokaran family. The design features rich detailing of Kerala-Colonial architecture in its planning and elements. Set in lush green tropics, thermal comfort and cross ventilation becomes integral part of the design. Colonnade verandas run through the periphery of the lower floor as a seam between the interior and exterior, while large arched openings ensure visual continuum.
This is a Villa Project designed in Kalapetty in a rich colonial architectural style. The design of villas feature very compact planning, while achieving good productivity and style for eco-friendly sub-urban living. Envisaged as an eco-friendly community, this project is set to become model for fringe cities.
This project is located in a remote and serene location at Sembarankulam on the Western Ghats. The first phase consisted of developing an organic farm in 100 acres of land. The farm is one of the largest organic farms in southern india supplying organic vegetables to select shops and bulk-buyers in Chennai and Bangalore. Ecological site planning encompassing several large reservoirs has ensured most-effective water-harvesting & soil conservation and at the same time, adding aesthetic appeal to the organic farm.
The Farm retreat project is located in 5 acres of land right in the middle of the organic farm. The project is conceived as 100% prefabricated construction technique, using Tata Bluescope’s ‘eazy-build & smart-build’ options for the shell and Gyproc for the interiors. As the project is in remote location, it was very difficult to find skilled-labour for construction. The pre-fab approach proved to be eco-friendly, cost-effective and time-saving.
A housing project on the sloping terrains in the midlands of Kottayam. A steeply sloping site of 8 Acres with access at several levels, site planning held the key for the entire development. Promoted by eco-friendly builders, the project was carried out with lush green landscape planned for the the entire project area. The blocks are designed to bring a unique character to the entire housing complex. The slopes were negotiated by split level planning and thus maintaining the natural landscape intact as much as possible. Planned to have a water harvesting system based on a lake planned in the central green space.
This is a unique project planned 600 acres of plantation hills in Vandiperiyar. The project while preserving its essential farming component (mostly tea, along with coffee, cardamom and other spices), converts the entire farm land to 200 virtual dairy farm units of 1Ha and 20 Cows each owned by investors.
The joint management will continue the plantation activity along with developing joint milking parlors for the cows owned by investors and the company, creating one of the largest cattle farms in India. Being located in Vandiperiyar on the Western Ghats (near Thekkady), this project attracts many tourists. Plantation and farm visits are the major tourism attractions in this otherwise stunning landscape. The task involved land planning for Dairy Farm Units and overall Landscape Planning. (Status: Unbuilt)
