Brick curtain house by Design work group

One of the best residential projects in India is the Brick curtain house which is situated in Surat, Gujarat, India and was constructed in the year 2016.

One can observe curtain flowing around the elevation. The curtain is made of brick so the name “brick curtain house”.

The site was approachable by two roads on the west and south side. The main entrance to the site is towards the west facing road.

Architects from the Design work group say " The clients requirements were very simple, he wanted a four bedroom house with a working office and he wanted a peaceful house where he can spend his life. After studying a few parameters like sun path and wind path we had to focus on the wind and light in our design. The southern and western side received a lot of sunlight which we had to restrict so we added a projection and increased the volume of the space to reduce heat gain. "

The site is situated near a waterbody which is a river and the site area is about 810 sqm. Core materials used in the project are red bricks, grey concrete, white oak and white paint for the interiors to keep the temperature low. After analyzing various factors like jali, materials and textures they chose brick as the core element.

The undulation on brick curtain wall created bulges on certain areas of the wall which in turn casted shadows on itself and restricted heat gain into the building. The brick wall has a normal English bond.

The building itself speaks abouts it’s inhabitants and their lives. The three main aspects that were taken into consideration while designing was climate, context and client’s brief. Surat has an extreme type of climate therefore climate was a very crucial parameter of this design.

There were few projections made on the brick wall which reduced almost 40% of heat gain into the building. The curtain wall creates a wonderful backdrop for the living room on the west facing side.

The interesting part is brick undulating is done in such a way that the undulating surfaces cannot be viewed from a distance as compared to having a closer look. Since the architects were avoiding any columns for the brick wall they used two cantilevers in between which the brick wall was resting.

When we look at the planning we can observe private spaces at the backside of the site and public spaces towards the front side, then comes the services which is in between the two.

Ground floor consists of parking, a multipurpose hall with a servant room and a garden space outdoors.

Above the multipurpose hall comes bedrooms, kitchen and dining which is the private area. On the other side, above parking comes living room with 2 semi open spaces on either sides which focuses on wind and light entering into the living room.

On the final level is a home office space for the client which is just above the living room having a refreshing view of a terrace garden. Pooja room lies in the centralized space which is in between 2 levels and can be viewed from the topmost levels.

The staircase connecting living room to the office space of the building is a very thin riser free staircase, which also has an art insulation along it’s way.

There is an office space on the level above the living area which opens up to a beautiful terrace garden.

It has a sustainable and functional approach which also goes along with the surrounding styles. It is a perfect example of simplicity with functionality.

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