A holiday home for a friend and for a group of friends on a vacation together.
A pristine site at an altitude of 7500 feet in the lap of nature with stunning views and vistas.
As a place of holiday, it was always going to be group of friends or family members, hence multiple bedrooms was a very important criteria.
- A large family space serving as a dining, lounge.
- Large verandas to accommodate everybody to enjoy the views and vistas and the great outdoors.
With these requirements and keeping the site sensitivity of land as terrace farms, a decision was taken to build on a single terrace. A single level house as it would be in harmony with its surroundings and the village at a distance, below.
The core of the house is a large common space housing an oversized dining table and some lounge seats and two large fireplaces.
A deep verandah wraps around on the east and south western sides to enjoy the rising and setting sun and the warmth of the sun in winter.
The house has been constructed in the traditional method of “the dhajji”, which is a composite construction of stone and timber. This system is earthquake resistant and has been the mainstay of construction methodology in Himachal, Uttarakhand, and other Hilly Regions, since times immemorial.
These thick walls also work to insulate the interiors during extreme winter, retaining heat, apart from being wide window seats to enjoy the views.
The whole house is covered by a single sloping roof (to keep the snow off) with two gable ends as large windows, on the east and west sides to let in the rising and setting sun.
The Addition of two large south facing dormer windows brings winter sun deep into the house and lights up the interior.
The core of the house is filled with light at the crack of dawn. The Verandah with its own fireplace is a charming semi outdoor space both for the summer and winters with snow and biting cold outside.
The traditional Slate roof would have been the choice for its aesthetic appeal but the problems of leakage, poor insulation, and heat loss i.e. Energy conservation, made us select insulated galvalume sheet roofing.
The aesthetically imposing timber roof structure within is supported by its independent timber columns and dormer windows and is a sight to behold. Being indoors and warm, in the lap of nature is an achievement.