Home as a Grove - Jayan's Abode

 

Jayan's Abode began as an exploration of incremental nature of building a house, through the nature of growth of a family into a community. The act of building here is like the act of growing a grove: a meticulous controlled planting yet leaving room for the tree to communicate and grow in its own direction, thus forming a grove - a community of trees offering solace to organisms of all kinds. This Indo-Portuguese family envisages to build one such grove for their four member family to host their guests who travel annually to this abode for ayurvedic rejuvenation and yoga camp. The seed design is a residential unit that can house the four member family. The house invites guests every evening for shared dinner, thus offering an active kitchen yard and a sacred grove adjacent to the bedroom block. The private bedroom block and the public kitchen are connected by living space for select guests to engage with the family. In the later phases, the residence is integrated with the other blocks for guest accommodation. These additional buildings are presently formless offering Jayan and family opportunity to make them out of available materials. As architects we believe in offering a framework for the family to sow and grow their "SACRED GROVE" thus making architecture of community a participatory one.

Design Team: Dr. Soumini Raja, Ar. Vishnu K, Ms. Bismiya Ibrahin, Ar. Akhil Simon

Graphics concept and credits: Ar. Akhil Simon and Dr. Soumini Raja