Introduction
The Gully Home is located at the end of a quiet, residential street in Chennai, overlooking the ocean. The house offers an uninterrupted view of the ocean while giving the residents the essential privacy and security.
#MyGreatFacade is a series presented by Fenesta Windows in association with #Buildofy
The project derives its name from the great room which is a multi-functional space like a simple vibrant street (gully) in a city. The triple height space has an open living-dining-kitchen layout that opens itself into a linear garden with a view of the sea beyond.
The floor plates are staggered by 5 feet on either side of the triple-height great room, connected by an open metal dog legged staircase with each landing leading the user into a designated space.
To download the full PDF eBook of The Gully Home - in Chennai with floor plans, materials used, construction techniques and so much more, please visit:
www.buildofy.com/projects/gully-home-chennai-tamilnadu
An open floor plan, sustainable and climate responsive materials, the use of filler slabs and strategic planning of the facade are some key highlights of the project. The architects walk through the house, giving an insight into various details, techniques, and materials and how they designed this house in a span of merely four months.
Architectural Journalist & Video Editor: Ar Kanishk Sharma
Cinematography: ArchPro Productions
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Video
To the Gully Home Project is not like a traditional cookie crater beach house design.
The house was to be designed and built in a span of just four months after we gave them the first presentation, the clients really liked it so much.
In fact that they said that they were going to get married within the same house.
The date of the wedding was fixed.
And we kind of had to work backwards for the change.
And today we're here to talk about the Gully home, you can find detailed walkthroughs and drawings of the project on below-fi.com.
And the link is in the description below the client here or a lovely young couple.
So they didn't want divisions or too many walls that actually obstruct the space to each other.
They wanted one space to flow within within the other.
The idea of the Gully is taken from the urban fabric of all our cities, where if you see the street is where you have people meeting Friends, Meeting neighbors meeting, you have the windows kind of opening up and looking into the street, you're interacting with each other.
So the side is a 39 by 93 foot plot.
And it is with the road on the southern side.
The entry point is mainly on the south.
And this is the north with the larger side facing of the East, which is our ocean front.
It is located in a quiet street in ECR in Chennai.
This site had a g, plus 4 structure, which was completely constructed by the client around 10 to 15 years ago.
And they wanted to take it down to accommodate a home where she could start her family.
So when it comes to the planning of the home, we decided to elevate the rear portion of the site by 1.5 meters from the road level.
So if this is the road, we increased the form ground level of the site by around 3 feet, 0.9 meters.
And from which we accommodated the parking Etc at the lower level and took up a landscape.
Terrace and a garden which went up to the main living space.
So the living space was at a higher Vantage Point.
Thus achieving an expansive view of the ocean on the Eastern side.
This 1.5 meter higher zone of the home had the living, the dining as well as a kitchen all integrated seamlessly within each other.
And the utility areas were tucked away at the rear side.
We've raised the great room up by 1.5 meters, even the setback surrounding it is raised 1.5 meters.
So you have a very very small garden.
But right at the same level as where you're standing.
We went for a single flight, folded metal staircase.
So it was prefabricated flight by flight.
And even the mid Landings are actually done out of the the same MS for installation.
It will actually prefabricated.
And then it is application.
And then the from the roof it was actually brought down by a crane.
So that was quite a sight.
You have the staircase that reaches all the subsequent floors and each floor is actually raised by half a floor.
So it's, not really like you have to climb one entire flight of stairs to reach the next space.
So, uh, instead of just slapping it up as a typical floor.
We wanted to create a sort of vertical integration of different volumes that was seamlessly done by this one central element of the staircase.
You go up and have a guest bedroom, which is located at the first level and going up to the second floor.
We have a study with a lovely view of the ocean.
So going up, we have the master bedroom, which takes up the premium spot in the house because the higher you go, the better, you have visibility of the ocean.
So that is why we placed it there and family living is placed on the topmost level along with a plunge pool, which is adjacent to it.
It has a beautiful uninterrupted view of the of the ocean fun part about this particular space is that top right after the couple got married, they came up.
And we have pictures of them actually jumping right into the swimming pool in their wedding videos.
So it's so personal.
And those are I think such good memories.
They have of the space.
Another additional point is the fact that it connects visually with a second Upper Terrace that we have that we've covered up with solar panels, the electricity that powers.
The home is completely sourced from the solar panels and the Rooftop when it comes to the Interiors video, we have the cut brick, which is made of terracotta and clay.
And the same goes with the Earthen pots that accent, the ceiling of the great room.
We looked at other materials that would complement the same tonalities of the Earthen Hues and used quota for the flooring and try to bring in color in the bedrooms, which are very personal intimate spaces.
We also hand-picked all the furniture to match the overall aesthetic of the home.
There was a lot of Timber cane thermal materials that we explored for the granite jams, Etc gray in various finishes and try to bring in pops of color in the common spaces through ceramic glaze Styles, or you know, certain prints that were very very contextual.
So we have large planes of glass, which can easily compromise the security of the home.
So we wanted to provide a grill system, that was just thin metal wires to allow for the free vision and view of the ocean.
But still provide a sense of security in the interior spaces.
The timber doors of the home were dismantled carefully and kept aside to be repurposed as the doors.
You see in the house right now and uh, the bricks that were taken down from the building were used in the foundation of the structure.
There was so many parallels because they were a young couple who were planning their wedding and designing their house at the same time and coincidentally.
We were also designing our house and planning our wedding at the same time.
So we could connect so much on various levels.
I think rarely Architects need to say, they're friends with their clients, because there are a lot of issues during the journey.
Thankfully, I mean, the clients are happy with the home that they have.
And they feel like it.
Best represents them.
So we are also very happy about the fact that you know, it's successfully brought out the intention that we initially had and it's been true to our principles as well as the clients requirements at the end of the day.