Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti

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Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti

Information

  • Completion year: 2022
  • Gross Built up Area: 1500 sqm
  • Project Location: Dehradun
  • Country: India
  • Lead Architects/Designer: Ar. Gayatri Maithani, Ar. Yashwanth Chandra
  • Design Team: Ar. Samridhi Bhardwaj, Ar. Garima Khali, Ar Ankur Sharma, and Ar. Anum Khan
  • Clients: Mr. Pankaj Singh Gussain
  • Photo Credits: Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali
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Excerpt: Lacuna, a residence in Dehradun designed by architectural practice LiDha- Living in Dharti focusing diverse ingredients including climatic attributes, site context, user requirements and sustainable living principles with the composition of brick and bamboo. Lacuna’s design has an agglomeration of intense details that together formulate the house.

Project Description

[Text as submitted by architect] Located in Dehradun, Lacuna Residence is a specimen of sustainable architecture, with the use of techniques and materials that are well suited to the climate of Dehradun. 

The word lacuna means a gap, which is an appropriate name for our concept of bridging the gap between conventional and sustainable. The site is surrounded by typical plastered houses, whereas the lacuna with its exposed brick walls and bamboo features stands out and marks its presence in the neighbourhood.

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali

Design Approach

Lacuna has its design approach set by various parameters that can make the space an all-rounder. The diverse ingredients include climatic attributes, site context, user requirements and sustainable living principles. Addressing these elements as a composition is what encompasses the built environment we have. The site is divided into two parts (one side built space and landscape on the other) by a high tension line that runs diagonally above the site and thus creates a design constraint and an opportunity that guided us in deciding the orientation, position and footprint of the built environment. This residence is designed for a family of 4 with varied professions but a common interest in life, whose initial requirement was a 2BHK duplex and a 1BHK, both for renting out. The ground floor consists of a drawing room, pooja, a kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The upper floor has a living room, a sunroom and a 1BHK. The duplex and 1BHK are separated by the use of levels. 

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali
Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© LiDha- Living in Dharti

Illumination

The Orientation of the Lacuna gives a great opportunity to grasp warm natural light during the day and protect the space, aptly, from harsh sun during the noon. To offer ventilation, daylight and privacy, brick jalis are installed in the living room, Pooja and lounge.  Apart from within, lacuna glows with the first touch of sunlight all the way till half past eight on most days. The windows and ventilators create design patterns while achieving the illumination of the built space in a unique way.

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali
Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
South-East Elevation © LiDha- Living in Dharti

Besides making the most of the North and East lights, the design also accommodates a Sunroom on the first floor and a double-height veranda on the ground floor in the southwest direction for the occupants to soak themselves in sunlight during the winter. Lacuna’s Borrowed streetscape has let the street light enter the house, just enough to create privacy while brightening up the common spaces facing the street, keeping private spaces undisturbed. This helps in conserving energy during the night. The play of light in this context goes beyond aesthetics, naturally lit spaces, energy conservation and ambience creation, it is the right blend of all these to give their lifestyle a supportive space to live and grow.

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali

Heat and Ventilation

The HVAC system of a modern day built space is completely controlled and is no more a natural response to the climate of the place. This house has got an opportunity to use the vast size of the plot and the site context to evolve in a way that it could live, listen and respond to the nature surrounding it. As a result, Lacuna has ample openings towards the north and east direction to let in easy air while the west side is well protected by closely packing to the site boundary. The orientation helps in the creation of a design that can better use the natural winds for advantage and create a characterised house that responds to benefit the occupants. 

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
Ground Floor Plan © LiDha- Living in Dharti

Dampness and Sublimation

Places like Dehradun have constant battles with troubles of water quality and their consequences like sublimation and dampness due to cold weather and heavy rains. The toughest of problems often have the simplest of solutions. Lacuna has dealt with it by clear execution of exposed brickwork giving enough breathable space to dry the walls and the residual lime to be brushed off. The weatherproof coat has helped in sustaining the wall quality while keeping the dampness in check.

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali

Electrical and Fire safety

Most of the components we have seen so far require electrical input at various levels and so does their insulation against fire accidents. Lacuna in particular has one electrical line outside the walled spaces from which it needs insulation and protection, the high tension (H.T) electrical line. Lacuna is provided with bamboo railing and columnar support to protect the structure and its occupants from any unforeseen situations. They are designed to redirect the line away from the house and bamboo being a bad conductor of electricity protects the house and its occupants from the H.T.  Line, making it both electrical and fire safety.

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali

Landscape

Beyond all the attributes and elements lacuna has got, one thing that shows the age, the responsive nature of the place while adding to the character of the built environment is the landscape. Landscaping is a major part of spatial development and makes the place lively, attracting beautiful birds and butterflies, while graciously complementing the borrowed landscape from the surrounding forest reserve in the vicinity. The site context has abundant green reserves, inspiring the design to have green spaces that can span both horizontally and vertically. 

Characterisation and Personality

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali
Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
Section AA © LiDha- Living in Dharti

Lacuna has an agglomeration of intense details that together formulate the house. Multiple brick patterns form a characterization of the built space while brick jali patterns add more to the personality of Lacuna. The complete brickwork being exposed gives out a sense of honesty & truth to materials while still protecting the way it has been growing.  The bull’s eye window in the ground floor drawing room, with a grill in an abstract lotus shape, has upped the dynamic of the whole structure, both from the outside & within, to a new level. The placement of the bull’s eye window on a curving wall overlooking the approach road has given a great sense of aesthetic, security and character to the house and its occupants. 

Other than bricks and cement, the Lacuna consists of a shuttered debris (SHOBRI) wall with a lime finish facing the east which glows in the morning sun and projects variations in colour as the day progresses. This wall comprising earth & debris has got a big window that creates a balance of light and warmth. After the walls and windows, there comes the ceiling which adds to the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the design. In Lacuna, we see ceilings of all kinds that are plain yet beautiful. The use of clay pot filler slabs helped us eliminate the need for false ceilings and has simultaneously provided insulation for the house. The filler slab patterns have assisted in the continuation of the language of lacuna, which was set by its exposed brickwork and patterns.

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali

Lacuna has space specifically allotted for the purposes it ought to serve. Landscape pockets on the ground floor are provided for the kitchen garden and on the terrace, pockets run along the parapet wall which accommodates climbers, and herbal and flowering plants. This landscape pocket is marked by geometrical progression waves of twin parapet walls running parallel 2 feet apart to make sure that the people standing on the terrace are further away from the High Tension wire. The rest of the terrace is to be used as a gathering space for friends and family.

Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali
Lacuna | LiDha- Living in Dharti
© Gayatri Maithani, Garima Khali

Bamboo, a versatile building material with great tensile strength and ease of working, is used for railings and an extended balcony, creating an entrance foyer, and adding a unique character to the residence. Lacuna has many more such design details and patterns that can be observed during the day and night.

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