Location : Tirupur, Tamil Nadu

Site area : 108854 sqft

Built area : 29870 sqft

Project status : On-Going

Project Team : Pradeep Arumugam, Deepan Ashok, Muthukumar, Syed Ibrahim

Project Type : Residential

UNFURL

A play with form

Site context & Client Requirement/Brief

The unfurl residence is a 2.5-acre residential building situated in Tirupur’s modern suburbs. The site gently tapers to the southwest, with its short edges on the north and west while offering a decent road frontage on the east.  The residence has been specially designed to meet the needs of the families of two managing directors of a leading garments export business.

The basic zoning principles arose from the client’s wish of building a private residence that  comprised of three parts: residential spaces, leisure areas and spaces for other miscellaneous activities. Furthermore, the newly constructed building would serve as a repository for the entire family’s memories, spanning all the generations.

Evolution of the concept

Drawing further inspiration from a majestic form of a bird spreading its wings, the design started taking shape as a symmetric entity with walls hierarchically unfurling on either sides from a central focus point.

A central, circular driveway served as the “nucleus” - a main focus point around which the entire design would revolve.

Using the center of this drop-off as the vertex,  a concave, three-dimensional parabolic landmass was created. The site boundary was then lifted to various heights to make this landmass more interesting.

Landscape

A semi-permeable boundary, using vegetation, was created around the site to ensure privacy.  The trees were planted in a contoured pattern with varying heights to correspond with the concept of the landmass. These peripheral trees abutted the northern and southern sides, while the eastern edge abutting  the road, was provided with more open spaces that consisted of a water body and gardens.  

Concept and spatial planning

The main entrance to the residence, that was located right after the central drop off,  served as a visual focal point and an imitation of the contoured landscape in itself, with its concave roof and circular plan. Block masses were derived based on the spatial requirements and were radially placed around the central core. This radial arrangement ensured easy access to every location of the building from the main entrance. The central, circular entity imparted its effect on all these surrounding masses by scooping out semi-circular volumes and creating courtyards that could enhance the experience of walking and using the building.

In keeping with the profile of the drop-off, a circular Courtyard was incorporated into the main block. This block was then divided for the residents, resulting in tiny alleys that eventually led to the main central courtyard. The concave effect applied to the landmass was applied to the roof of the divided up volumes, resulting in an intriguing hierarchy of volumes emanating from the center. A bridge linked the separated volumes.

The edge walls  of the blocks were made to protrude outwards, establishing a sense of verticality with strong lines. The volumes in between these walls were allowed to float, giving a playful character to the design.

The building blocks were played with, in this manner, to create a fascinating, magnificent exterior as well as an immersive, playful interior for the user.