The three acres lot where this “Brick Kiln House is built is located in a small village of Munavali, close to Alibaug, Maharastra, India. A favorite place where wealthy Bombay citizens build their dream country home. Inspired by the local, traditional brick factories around the Raigad district, the architects of SPASM Design Architects wondered if the brick stacks were hollowed, creating living spaces to inhabit in them. furthermore, it seemed that it was important to accommodate the huge local trees that surrounded the site like Tamarind, mango, Champa, and Vad trees.
Long stretches of the two main wings of the house, sit at right-angles to each other and about a curious tree which has grown at a leaning angle. Orientation, aspect, wind, and rain direction were also important factors in building this modern brick country home, each room has two openings allowing easy cross ventilation and natural lighting. This modern brick country home was also designed to create a sense of being immersed in the vegetations. Rooms were designed in a series as a farm building where you must walk outdoors to change room. Detached facilities and the curious shed-like volume of the living room however, further enhanced the intimate feeling of being immersed in the nature.
The body of the house hides under tree canopies like a gator, at the edge of a river bank. The choice for the bricks were based on the overall expression of a hand made unit, the choice was based on color, strength and finish. The arrangement of the brick was also based on its ‘natural’ form, stack, it does not attempt to create pattern or to be precise. It’s about hollow in a brick stack to inhabit. The mass of the brick keeps the interior cool while at the same time, conceals and reveals life within it. Being immersed in vegetation means that the design allows rain, wind and sun enter freely into the house, and will mark it over the years. “The stacks will gradually get covered with luminescent moss, nature will fight its way back. Living in a country home is about witnessing this war.
The pool, takes form from the shadow of the trees on the earth below, a pattern we noticed on an especially hot afternoon. In such regions water automatically becomes a source of life. Getting engulfed by foliage.” The first DESIGN-BUILD assignment for the architect, SPASM Design Architects.
