Architects: Studio Ardete
Area: 239 m²
Year: 2021
Photographs: Purnesh Dev Nikhanj
Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Lumion, Grohe, Diakin, FLOS, Honeywell, Schüco, Spacewood, Toto, Trimble Navigation, Vetromoda, Yale, wooden doors with Turakhia Veneer, wooden doors with Turakhia Veneer
Lead Architects: Ar.Badrinath Kaleru and Ar.Prerna kaleru
Design Team: Sanchit Dhiman, Nisha Singh Sarao, Nancy Mittal, Abhimanyu Sharma, Satish Sinhmar
Clients: Mr.Rampal
Civil Contractor: Mr Rohan Bansal And Shailesh
Interior Stylist: Rahool Kukreja
City: Panchkula
Country: India
The Brick House residential project, designed in Panchkula, has redefined urban domesticity by integrating courtyards and green visual axes into a single-storey structure rooted in contextual response and thermal logic. Surrounded by open lawns and a wooded park on its South and South-East edges, the house prioritizes constant interaction with nature through deep verandahs, two internal courtyards, and large openings that align with key views. Completed on a 42′ x 82′ plot, the plan accommodates three bedrooms, a kitchen with a spice zone, and a central living-dining area. The use of pigmented wire-cut brick, exposed concrete, brick jaali, and walnut wood frames a material palette that establishes spatial coherence while maintaining privacy and climatic comfort. Inspired by Tadao Ando’s philosophy, the architecture fosters an embedded relationship with nature, creating a cohesive rhythm of light, airflow, and movement that defines the dwelling’s spatial essence.
Brick House is located in a modest residential neighborhood in Sector 20, Panchkula. Built on a 42′ x 82′ plot, the house faces a wooded park along its South and South-East frontages and shares a boundary with a lawn to the South-West. These site conditions offer extended views of the surrounding greenery. The clients—a couple in their fifties and their elderly mother requested a three-bedroom home with a large living-dining space, a kitchen with a separate cooking zone, and direct access to the adjoining lawn as a daily ritual.
The brief allowed for all programmatic requirements to be accommodated on the ground floor. This presented a challenge in massing and volume articulation to generate architectural character. In response, the design was guided by the site’s natural context and followed the philosophy that built form should remain permeable to nature. The architects describe the approach as an effort “to bring in green wherever we could, create green amidst built wherever the space demanded, and capture its essence where we could do neither.”
Entry occurs through the South edge via the lawn, arriving at a recessed verandah lined with flowering planters and a swing a space the clients specifically intended for daily tea rituals. This verandah leads into the primary living space, which sits between two courtyards. Deeply set within the house to mitigate direct sunlight from the southwest, the living area receives filtered daylight from the East and West through these landscaped voids.
The interior planning orients the master and guest bedrooms along the South wall, opening toward the lawn, while the mother’s bedroom overlooks the park through the South-East façade. The eastern courtyard, glazed on three sides, connects the bedrooms and living room, while the western courtyard forms part of the dining area, linking to the kitchen, spice kitchen, and rear service zone. The spatial sequence follows daily household operations, and a secondary access point ensures the service area remains functionally independent.
The courtyards constructed in pigmented wire-cut brick extend to double height and incorporate brick jaali along the upper sections of their walls. This composition ensures that reflected light enters at midday, while the jaali introduces diffused lighting during morning and evening hours. The variation in daylight patterns contributes to passive thermal regulation.
Material choices reflect a grounded palette. Interiors feature muted tones, walnut wood, local stone, and exposed brick, combined with brass pots and block-printed textiles. These elements reinforce the tactile and cultural memory of traditional Indian homes while preserving spatial clarity. The white walls serve as a canvas for personal artifacts, including sketches and tapestries by the client’s wife.
On the exterior, the building reads as a restrained expression of its context. Brick and raw concrete define the surface language—brick red setting a contrast, and concrete offering a quiet counterbalance to the site’s green surroundings. The South-East and South-West edges form the dominant visible elevations. These incorporate volumetric staggering derived from internal spaces, brick jaali features, and a horizontal ribbon window placed just above eye level for privacy. A concrete-framed main door in walnut wood completes the entrance.
Brick House retains references to vernacular spatial principles, from aangan-like courtyards to materiality. By bridging domestic routine with an architectural response to nature and light, the house establishes a quiet but enduring presence within its urban setting.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Panchkula, India
The location specified is intended for general reference and may denote a city or country, but it does not identify a precise address.
