Sanjay Puri designs a house following traditional Indian principles & materials for passive cooling using mostly locally sourced materials
Nokha, Rajasthan, India
Characterized by open courtyards and screened volumes, the Narsighar House, designed by Sanjay Puri and Nina Puri of Sanjay Puri Architects and Satatv Design Consultants, is embodying the traditional planning principles of regional architecture that have been prevalent for centuries in Rajasthan.
Most of the houses & palaces built in this region since centuries had courtyards for passive cooling , thick stone walls to combat the excessive heat & stone ‘jali’ screens to mitigate heat gain.
The Narsighar house is punctuated with a series of courtyards & built in the local sandstone available in the immediate vicinity.
Each of the living spaces open into sheltered outdoor spaces screened with perforated stone panels.
These screens in addition to reducing heat gain, also protect the inner spaces from the sandstorms prevalent in the region.
The home based on the clients needs to accommodate 4 generations has 9 bedrooms with multifunctional living spaces ,sheltered courtyards & patios all around.
In addition to the traditional planning principles, elements of traditional Rajasthan architecture, including multifoil arched windows, patterned stone screens, stone pergolas, inlay work & carving work, accentuate the spaces.
Rajasthan in India is home to many craftsmen, including stone carving, marble inlay, carpentry work, mirror work inlay, lime plaster, and more.
The entire house was executed & worked upon by these local craftsmen, reviving many traditional techniques.
Although the house appears large , over 40% of the area is in the form of open courtyards, circulation spaces and sheltered outdoor patios.
Each volume is articulated individually with the home being perceived as a composition of varying volumes.
An entry car porch opens into a sunlit courtyard that leads to a sheltered stone arcade flanked by water troughs and gardens for passive cooling before one enters the house.
The skylit entrance lobby within the house is flanked by a living room & an open seating area & leads one into a large central courtyard.
The main courtyard punctuating the house is naturally ventilated through clear-story windows, with the circulation skirting its perimeter.
Sectionally, there is a flow of different volumes within.
Most of the rooms are 4 meters high, with the main living room 6.5 meters high, the central courtyard 12 meters high, the north & south courtyards 8 meters high, and the outdoor patios 3.6 meters high.
Every living space & bedroom in the house opens into sheltered outdoor spaces, creating transitional volumes between the inside & the outside to mitigate heat gain.
Project: Narsighar House
Architects: Sanjay Puri Architects
Lead Architects: Sanjay Puri and Nina Puri
Landscape Architects: Satatv Design Consultants
Design Team: Pooja Sampat ,Ayesha Puri, Tanya Puri ,Ashwini Mogaveera, Nilesh Patel, and Sarika Kadam
MEP Engineers: Shreshtha Consultants
Client: Narsi Kularia
Photographers: Vinay Panjwani
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