Located on a busy road in the city of Panchkula in India, a home that has become known as the Pool House was recently designed for an elderly couple and their visiting family and friends by architect Ar Badrinath Kaleru and the Studio Ardete design team.
The brief was to visualise a house that exuded comfort and was designed for relaxation and leisure, and to apply these principals to the nearly 5,000 square metre dwelling.
Completed last year, the main concept behind the home was to place emphasis on its courtyard and pool areas, with these acting as the focal point of the entire space.
The façade has been designed in two individual spaces. A screen comprising of vertical members reduces visual contact with the busy street that lies just outside the home, at the same time allowing the occupants to have a view of the trees which line the road just across from it.
Another defined space has been created by the staircase facade, which is clad in dark grey textured stone. Small rectangular voids have been created in this to break up the mass, and this adds a sense of lightness.
These windows have been fitted with reflective glasses to add a sculptural dimension to the wall. A water feature located near the entrance to the home sets a tranquil tone for the interiors that lie beyond.
The feeling of light conjured by these windows continues inside the home, where transparent walls have been used to interconnect the various spaces and to link them to the outdoors. The sitting room, which is located at the front of the house, is designed as an extension of the landscape outside, with the cantilevered roof reinforcing the connection of the inside to the out. The transparent walls serve a further purpose here, neatly accentuating the presence of the swimming pool from different areas of the house.
The main staircase and what are called the wellness areas have been cleverly connected to the rest of the spaces in the home via the courtyard, which again establishes a correlation between the inside and the out, something which is extremely important when you bear in mind the wide variation of temperatures which occur in this part of the world.
The colour, texture and material palettes of the Poolyard House have intentionally been kept subtle too, with the use of wood and stone capturing the eye.
Elsewhere, colourful artworks contrast against the toned down ambience of the interiors. The lighting has been fitted taking into consideration individual spaces and their varying functionality. Quirky fixtures that draw attention and bind the elements of the space together have been used, while natural light filters in from the double height courtyard, illuminating the spaces inside during the daytime.
Finally, the swimming pool on the first floor, which can be seen from many areas of the home, has become the nucleus of the house and of course lends the entire project its name.
