WRITER: HARRIET THORPE
New Delhi studio Vir.Mueller Architects
builds no more than one house per year.
Each is a test bed for a new system, a small-
scale infrastructure idea, and a chance to
develop a material process further – all part
of a wider research agenda on the evolution
of the Indian architectural landscape.
A multigenerational home, for two brothers,
their families and their parents, is the
studio’s latest experiment.
A large site among empty plots in Noida –
a fast-growing area just outside New Delhi
on the east bank of the Yamuna River –
offered the architects a chance to design
a house that ‘created its own context’. One
of the brothers, Abhinav Singh, a young
technology entrepreneur, was quite happy
to be a pioneer of this new neighbourhood,
and of a new architectural prototype.
Together with Singh, the architects decided
this design should be an experiment reflecting
a social mandate and be adaptable to any
family of India’s billion-plus population.
More than a brief, it was a ‘remarkable design
mission’ for the architects.
Looking at the project as a template for
an Indian home, the plan of the house
became a microcosm of a city, where a central
street brings the three generations together
without hierarchy. Staircases form bridges
into the family zones, while the central
courtyard and roof terrace are places for
collective encounters. ‘This had to be a house
where you could host a dinner party or a kidPAT T E R N M A K E R
An experimental home near New Delhi offers a new template for Indian housing
could practise a tennis swing with a ball,
where you could stage a fashion show or
do your daily laundry,’ says architect Pankaj
Vir Gupta, who co-founded Vir.Mueller
Architects with partner Christine Mueller
in the US in 2003, relocating to India in- Reflecting the design’s spatial flexibility,
materials had to be robust and durable, yet
also easily sourced locally in keeping with
the intention to create an attainable model
for Indian residential architecture.
‘Singh wanted the house to reflect the
material resources of India,’ says Vir Gupta.
‘He also wanted the house to enable him
to understand the physics behind light,
volume and scale, and where the four young
children could learn to appreciate (^) »
A SMALL INTERIOR
COURTYARD BRINGS
LIGHT AND VENTILATION
TO THE HEART OF THE
HOME, ITS INTRICATE
BRICKWORK CREATING
DRAMATIC SHADOWS
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Architecture