I think it’s time, Caroline,to go and see how the other half live.
Talk about welcome to my humble abode!
Cor, that is a whole lot of house!
He's Piers Taylor,an award-winning architect.
I mean, the depth of this wallit’s four foot thick.
After you, my Lord.
And she’s Caroline Quentin,
acclaimed actressand passionate property developer.
This house has the perfect ratioof bedrooms to swimming pools.
We’ve been given the keysto some of the most incredible houses
in the world.
If we were left alone herefor any amount of time I have a feeling--
-We would ruin this house.-[laughs]
To discover the design innovation, passion
and endurance neededto transform architectural vision
into an extraordinary home.
Look!
I’m dumbstruck.
We’re traveling the globe.
[laughs]
Meeting architects and owners
to explore how their daring homesrespond uniquely to local landscape,
climate, and culture.
I think this is probablythe greatest house I’ve ever been in.
Whether it’s battling the elements
to construct a dream home
on dramaticScandinavian terrain...
The architect was nervousthat things would go wrong.
He couldn’t bear to look at it.
Pushing the boundariesof European experimentation.
-I think that’s it.-I think it is.
When I looked at the proposal,in the beginning I was almost shocked.
...celebrating craftsmanshipand beauty in Asia...
We’ve likened this houseto dripping chocolate sauce
all over vanilla ice cream.
Or going all out for glamour in America.
You just do what you do best,is to create a masterpiece.
Piers! Is this too Miami?
We’ve arrived in Mumbai,India’s most popular city.
It's crazy.
There are more billionaires herethan there are in Los Angeles,
and a booming economy isdriving a passion
for modern architecture.
This looks like it.
Hello.
-Hi Ma'am!-Hi.
But we’re leaving the city...
[horns blaring]
because we’re following the smart moneyout of Mumbai
to the peaceful and dramatic landscapesbeyond.
Where a new generation of architectsare running wild.
I think this is thrillingand I didn’t expect it.
From a concrete fortressthat blends ancient form
with modern design...
...to a feat of architectural daring,with a visionary approach to landscape.
The experience hereis identical in many ways
just to being under the trees outside.
And an idyllic riverside hideawaythat makes you feel,
well, majestic.
I know this is really bad,
but I’ve got to do it.
Maharani Quentin.
that’s me.
We’ll also be finding outhow Indian architects
have drawn on their nation’s historyand craftsmanship,
to blaze a trail into the future.
[horns blaring]
Gosh, you can see why people needto get out of Mumbai, can’t you?
Well, hopefully we’re heading awayfrom this chaos and into the countryside.
We’re headinginto the countryside;
I’m not convincedwe’re heading away from the chaos.
[horns blaring]
One thing we are escaping is the weather.
We’ve chosen to come in the dry season
because from June to Septemberit’s monsoon time.
When the heavens open,
up to a meter of raincan fall in a single day,
bringing cities to a haltand flooding the land.
And if that’s not intense enough,
in the summer, temperatures can soarto a scorching 40 degrees or higher.
I’m intrigued to find outhow architects here respond passively
to such extremes of climate.
We’re traveling to see a home
that has to dealwith some of the worst weather in India.
It’s in a mountainous region,
...70 kilometers southeast of Mumbai.
We’re arriving by the scenic route
[ooh!]
It’s quite a climb.
Gosh.
I wasn’t expecting that.
This imposing houseis built like a fortress
partly because the monsoonbreaks right overhead.
And that tough outer shelldoubles as a way
to protect light and airy interiorsfrom the baking heat.
Perched on the edge of a rocky outcrop,
it commands views across the flat-landsto the mountains beyond.
But this is no military bunker.
It’s been createdas a relaxing weekend home
for a Mumbai businessman and his family.
That’s pretty.
-It’s beautiful.-Marigolds.
You could almost lie on topof that surface couldn’t you?
Aren’t they lovely?
-Aren’t they beautiful?-What a color.
Gosh, that against that blueis phenomenal.
I think this splash of floral color
is a clue that behind this tough exterior,
lies a house with real warmth.
I’ve just got to get a senseof where we are, what the context is.
I’m just curious to seehow the house sits.
And I think it sits right on the edgeof this escarpment
and somewhere out thereis a fantastic view.
But I have to say I’m really excitedabout this house
because this house might marrya real sense of the ancient...
with modernity.
The challenge here was to build
the house of liquid stoneon the edge of a steep cliff,
exposed to the elements.
The entrance is formedby a huge cantilevered canopy
to protect cars and visitorsfrom the monsoon deluge.
CANOPY
The architect built the housearound two existing mango trees.
MANGO TREES
Three open courtyards bring air and light
into a large sitting-dining area...
SITTING/DINING
...three en-suite bedrooms, and a kitchen.
EN-SUITE BEDROOMS, KITCHEN
A second floor with bedroom and bathroom
burrows down into the cliff face.
BEDROOM AND BATHROOM
This house looks quite monolithicand singular on the outside.
But on the inside,it’s not like that at all.
It’s an almostlabyrinth-like set of spaces
where there’s this ambiguity
around what’s actually insideand what’s outside.
The forest has been allowedto creep indoors.
Grasses were woven into living areas
and trees grow freely in the courtyards.
In some parts,nature is even taking over the concrete.
And those boundariesbetween inside and outside
are blurred in the most everyday spaces.
Bathrooms are often talked aboutin terms of the fittings they have,
you know, the taps and so on.
I’m not really interested in all of that.
What I’m interested in is atmosphere,the experience of bathing.
But, because I’m busy, I usually shower.You know, I don’t have time to bathe.
But I think if I did,
it would have to be under a mango tree,
surrounded by marigolds.
It makes the interior atmospherevisceral and sensual,
but these open spaces and trees
aren’t the only connectionto that outside environment.
This house is called the Houseof Liquid Stone for a couple of reasons.
Mainly because it sits on basalt,a rock that is this escarpment
and that same rock is ground up
and put into the concrete as aggregate
and it gives it this fantastic patina.
But it’s also becausethe accommodation of this house
literally steps down the hill.
The rooms flow down the hill.
This local rock has been usedalongside stone from across India
to create striking contrasts of texture
that take you on a journeythrough the house.
From the rough gravel entrances,
through hallways of mapped flagstones...
to the polished stone floorsof the living rooms.
And here to the courtyardwhere the high basalt concrete walls
frame the view out towards the mountain.
-It’s quite a view, isn’t it?-Oh, Piers, it’s lovely, isn’t it?
It’s a nice pool
and I know you’ve heard this before,but I will be swimming in that later.
Like that enticing pool,the rooms on this side of the house
feel like they're hanging ontothe edge of the cliff-side,
with nothing but fresh air below.
I’m just having a little snooparound the bedrooms.
And this isa very simple, quite large bedroom.
I just want to havea look out of the window.
Well, that’s very pleasing.
It’s a sash mechanism, but it’s, yes,
-using a counterweight,-[slaps the stone]
and the weight is visible.
[window shuts]
I think that’s really beautiful.
It’s a shame about the view.
The surprise of this house
is how much lies behindthis very blank elevation.
It gives nothing away.
But behind that blank concrete wall
is a rich and complex housethat is as deep as it is wide...
but curiously,
that presents a problem,because in deep plan buildings,
you have no light or ventilationin the middle.
So what he’s done
is introduce a series of courtyards
that run right the way through the house.
Then these courtyards ventand light everything else.
And then around that are the bedrooms.
This is, in some ways,a traditional Indian courtyard house
hiding behind this 30 meter longconcrete elevation.
And it’s in those quiet courtyard spaces
that the cares of the worldjust drift away.
Gosh, you’re making yourself at home.
It’s funny you should say that.I feel so at home here.
I feel here that this is a place
where kids are welcome,
where you can makeas much mess as you like,
you can really enjoy yourselves and relax.
-You planning on making a big mess?-[laughing] Yeah.
Relaxation is at the heart of this house,
from the swing benchesto the spa-like bathrooms
and nature quietly growing around you.
It’s there too,in the contrast of materials.
Hard stone and concrete are softened
by wooden furnitureand brightly colored fabrics.
Concrete has a reputation for austerity,
but this house is so warm and tactile.
Architect Sangeeta Merchantand Sanjeev Panjabi
have agreed to talk me throughtheir approach.
Is this house particularly Indian,do you feel?
We’ve tried to bring ina sort of Indian-ness
through spaces, not through the form.
Indian families generallycome together in the courtyard.
Courtyard homes have always beenthe kind of homes we’ve lived in.
Indian families are generally big
and they would bring ten more people.
You know, there’s always friendsand cousins and extended family,
so the courtyard just becomesthat room for expansion.
We’ve likened this house
to dripping chocolate sauceover vanilla ice cream.
You know, the idea was to have a flat topand just drip it like a rivers building.
That’s why it’s called liquid stone.
And when you first showed your clientsthe model or the scheme for this,
-what did they say?-Shock.
-Shock?-Yeah.
We like that, we like that shock value.
Unless it’s something newand bang smack in the face,
you’ve not done anything,you’ve not broken new ground.
I want to ask owner Gauravif he also likes the shock value.
Presumably the choice of concrete was,you were pleased with that, were you?
I was pleased initially,and once the house was being built
and we saw the concrete and thenwe had second thoughts and doubts.
We were always concernedthat my grandparents,
when they came in,they would love the place and say,
-"Well, it’s lovely until you paint it."-[laughs]
That concrete will be gorgeousonce it’s a different color.
Yeah, so it was a leap of faith,
and I’m glad we took it.
And the location of the site didn’t help.
And how was this,building this house here
in this very rural…
Oh, man. Not easy.
So this was a crazy slope and…
The rain is like four or five months,
so during that timeyou can’t even stand here.
The first time we came,we had an umbrella.
The umbrella flew away, and we’re like,
"We better build something solid here,or it’s not gonna last."
Because they were using local basalt,
all of the concrete was prepared onsite.
So when the monsoon rains hit,
construction work ground to a halt.
Progress was slow...
and it took two and a half yearsto build the house.
-It’s very easy to be in, isn’t it?-Yes.
-Was that part of the joy for you?-That’s actually,
I think unanimously what all my guests say
when they come hereand they feel at home instantly and--
Because the impact it has is immediate,
-isn’t it?-Absolutely.
The way it is now I couldn’t imagine itbeing any other way.
And nor can we.
This house is a great example of clientsand architects coming together
to create something really unusual.
By interweaving traditional spaces
and the natural worldinto a modern building,
they’ve created a warm, relaxed,and intimate piece of architecture.
Finally the moment I’ve been waiting for.
Our next stop is a few miles southwest,
at a home where the architectshave decided to work
with the landscapein a completely different way.
To get there, we’re traveling deepinto the Western Ghats,
a beautiful mountainous regionthat straddles the west of India.
There are 160,000 square kilometersof rugged wilderness
packed with dense rain forests,lakes, and rivers,
with ancient forts clinging to the peaks
and wild panthers still roaming the hills.
And we’re curious to knowhow you make architecture
that deals with surroundingsas epic as this.
Piers, look.
I think this is us.
The House of Three Streams
has been very much shapedby the landscape.
The result is a fluid, enigmatic house
that almost tiptoes down the hillside,
through a series of origami-likeroofed verandas and open spaces.
It takes its name from the waterways thatflow around and even through the house
during the heavy monsoon rains;
because this is architecture that’sall about letting nature do the talking.
My first impressions...
of this home are that
it’s so delicately placed.
The house isn’t interfering withthe beauty of the landscape.
There’s also real ambiguityin terms of how you get in.
I mean, there’s no obvious front door;
you can just slide into the buildingfrom wherever you want.
There’s hardly a house here at all really,Piers.
-Is there?-Just shade.
A roof and a floor.
There are more than 1000 square metersof house that's not a house here,
all flowing out
from a fort style wall and tower,
which forms the spine of the building.
It’s an incredibly steep site,
framed by seasonal waterways.
The house is a seriesof asymmetrical zinc roofed verandas...
ZINC-TOPPED VERANDAS
...scattered down the hillside,
providing outdoorand indoor dining spaces.
DINING, KITCHEN
A kitchen, living spaceand viewing platform.
LIVING ROOM, VIEWING PLATFORM
En-suite bedrooms are tucked out of sight,placed on top of each other...
BEDROOMS 1 & 2
...to allow uninterrupted views.
At the lowest level,
a swimming pool formsthe roof of two more bedrooms.
SWIMMING POOL
BEDROOMS 3 & 4
Wow! Suddenly,we’re underneath a really exciting space.
I think this is thrillingand I didn’t expect it.
I didn’t expect it to haveall these wonderful crisscross of beams,
and on just that metal on top.
But actually in this landscapesand in this context,
what you need above all elseis shade from the sun
or shelter from the rain,
and you need as big a roof as possibleand actually not much else.
I like the idea of, Piers,being up here during the monsoon
and hearing the rain thunderingon this metal roof
and being inside this spacewith the glass looking outside.
I mean, it must be virtually impossible
to see your hand in front of your facewhen the monsoons come here.
Here we are now,when there isn’t a monsoon,
but we’re equally immersed in nature.
The experience here is identical,in many ways,
just to being under the trees outside.
In fact, trees inspiredone of the key pieces of design.
These unusual beam structures
unlock the underlying philosophyof the architecture.
So instead of there beingregular repetitive columns,
there’s this beautifully complex seriesof trusses that come down to the ground
as trees pulling backall the structure from the edge.
And what it means is that the houseprovides uninterrupted panoramic views
of the landscape from wherever you look.
The wildernesshas also been embraced by the architects
to shape every aspect of their approach.
This house is all about landscapein plan and in section.
The site is a steeply sloping sitethat steps down the hill
and what these architects have doneis then to look at the contours
and work out where the hollows are
and then where on the flat piecesthey can either place
pieces of building or bridges
to get acrossfrom one building to another.
Once the architectshave identified the flat pieces of land,
they then decided what part of the housethey would become.
And with such a steep sitedictating where they could build,
the house ended upbeing split across six levels.
And it’s the experience of stepping downthrough the site,
through the natural treesand through the man-made trees,
that makes the experience of this houseso exciting.
That immersive feelingof living amongst the trees
even follows you indoors.
There’s a suite herewith an en-suite bathroom.
If you listen very carefully,you can hear all the birds.
I imagine in here is-- ah!
There's a bathroom hereand it’s a good one.
This stone that is usedthroughout the house
is used in here, and it’s called Kota.
And it’s from southern India,and it is so beautiful.
It’s a soft slatey green,
and it gives everywhere you go
a sort of feeling of being under water.
And here, in the shower room,
you could open up these shutters
and be showeringwith the birds in the trees.
What’s incredible is that I’ve been
into lots and lots of bathroomsin my life,
but I realize,
this is oneof the all-time great bathrooms.
There is a real sense of the architecture
being in an intimate relationshipwith its natural environment.
Owner and architect Kamal Malikis going to take me through its story.
Why did you build a house in this region?
I was born and brought up
and did my entire schooling
in the Himalayas, and they are mountains.
And here was an opportunityclose to Mumbai,
and you can get into the hills
and you have a kind of setting in a way,
that I spent my childhood in.
And we had these wonderful streams,
three of them, that flowed from the site,
and we saw it during the monsoonand it was quite amazing.
The other thing which happened herewas the inspiration of the tree.
So you see the trunk,
and you see the branches,and if you look back
you will seethe actual support of the roof
is an echo of an understanding of that.
Curiously that was my first impression,
coming in and actually feeling likeI was under a tree.
So you never havethat sense of there being
something between you and landscape,
So in the tropics, you would spendmost of your time in the veranda,
because this iswhere you experience the breeze,
you experience nature,
and you even enjoy the rainand so on, so forth, sitting in there.
I think it’s only to sleepthat you’re going to go inside a room.
Every room has been designed basically
for both a natural ventilation,
the ability to look out,to be in union with nature,
you know, and be able to see.
This house was a family affair,
and Kamal worked closelywith his son, fellow architect, Arjun.
The views from here, Arjun,are second to none.
They’re extraordinarily beautiful,aren’t they?
Mm-hm.
Because of course you have designedand built this house with your father.
-Mm-hm.-And I have to ask you,
what’s it like working with your dad?
The processhas been wonderful and rewarding.
It has had its impact in this house,for example,
my parents don’t enjoy being in the water,
so therefore we separatedthe veranda spaces,
where he and his friends could bein a particular place.
My family and our friendscould be closer to the pool
and have our own kind of privacy and spaceand yet be connected.
Everyone has their own favorite place,and that’s the whole point.
It’s choice, it’s openness.
When you spend time here,what do you end up doing?
Pretty much nothing.
-Really?-Yeah.
Swimming, talking, listening to music.
And what a pool.
I mean,it’s an extraordinarily beautiful thing
in and of itself.
So why did you decideto raise the pool up,
sort of into the view almost?
When it gets really warm,all the water sources dry up,
and the rats and frogs start to gravitateto any potential water source
and the snakes follow.
That’s not particularly safe.
To avoid that, we lifted up the poolto restrict access.
It’s got the sense of infinity.
You’re swimming in the tree linewith the mountains in the horizon.
Your father’s an architect.You are an architect.
At any point did it cross your mindto become a Bollywood star?
because you’re so stupidly handsome!
No, it didn’t. It actually didn’t,but thank you. That’s very flattering.
You’re welcome.I think you missed an opportunity.
Well, Bollywood's lossis definitely architecture's gain.
The whole place is beautiful.
For our third house,we’ve come a few miles north,
near the rural town of Karjat.
KARJAT
We’ve been given the keysto a weekend house
designed as a highly discreet addition
into a scene of bucolic natural beauty.
It’s been builtby two award-winning architects,
but it’s so well-hidden,we don’t know exactly where it is.
I think this one looks like a walk,don't you?
-Yeah.-It’s a lovely spot, isn’t it?
Still no house.
Ah, here we are.
It’s a sign of something, look.
There’s something
strange about finding
this perfect pocket-handkerchief sizeof manicured lawn.
It’s about the only clue
I can see that there isa building underneath us.
Riparian is nestledinto the Bank of the Patalganga River.
The building is half buried in the earth,rising out of the landscape.
With its camouflage turf roof,
this house shuns the limelight,
but immerses its occupantsin a rural paradise,
creatingthe most tranquil family hideaway.
It’s a terrific bit of land, isn’t it?
This house is a piece of landscape and
what I’m enjoying so far is that the houseis indistinguishable from the landscape.
And I love that about it.
Earth-sheltered houses are rare in India,
but they’re the perfect way to makea house blend into its surroundings.
The turf roofmakes it invisible from the east
while keeping out the heat
and providing an extra outdoor platformto admire the view.
And Riparian makes the mostof its riverside location.
A courtyard hewn out of the bedrockleads to the kitchen,
which is flanked by a guest bedroom,
staff areas,
and a child’s bedroom.
CHILDREN'S BEDROOM
On the front of the house,facing the river
is the main bedroom and the dining room,
which open outonto an expansive teak veranda.
TEAK VERANDA
This intriguing entrance into a house
really brings out my inner badger,
because it's likea sort of route into a badger’s set.
Let me go and find out whatthis particular badger’s house is like.
In fact, it’s light and colorful
with a cooling breezerunning all the way through.
You’d never guessit was part of the riverbank.
This house straddles the line
between being a piece of ground,a piece of landscape,
something embedded in the earth,
but also, at the same time,a lightweight building,
almost in the mannerof a tea plantation house
that sits single story above the ground,
with deep rooms shadedby a veranda and screens.
And refreshingly, for a modern house,it’s really down to earth.
It’s sweet.It’s like a little cottage inside,
both in the scale of the space,
but also the familiarity of the stuff.
Usually, in modern architecture,everything gets reinvented.
But it’s the little touchesthat make it gorgeous.
This is the master bedroom.
And look at these fantastic windows.
They’re Crittall windows.They’re metal, steel windows.
It’s very unusual.I’ve not seen these before in India.
They’re stunning,but what I really, really love are these.
These are fly screens, but they’re notthe usual sort of nylon fly screens,
which are pretty grim, actually,and you see them everywhere.
These are made out of mesh,metal mesh.
Like a Victorian food cover.
and they keep everything out,
snakes and mosquitoes.
Imagine lying in this huge bed
and being able to look outover this glorious river here,
watching the cattle coming to drink.
I’m sorry, I can’t resist this.
I know this is really bad,
but I’ve got to do it.
Maharani Quentin.
That’s me.
It’s a lovely view.
There is something incredibly familiarabout this house.
And part of that reason isthat this house, in a way,
is the traditional Indian bungalowmeets earth-sheltered house.
But what’s clever is that, typically,
most earth-sheltered houses are, in a way,
dark and airless, but here,
this architect has hollowed outthese courtyards at the back,
which you can walk out into.
And what happens isthat there’s a clear ventilation path
that runs right through the way the house.
So this is kind of warm air,you know, rising up here.
The cool air
comes right the way throughand vents the house.
It all seems so effortless,
but I’ve a feeling that creatingthis oasis of tranquility
wasn’t quite as simple as it looks.
The architects,Robert Verrijt and Shefali Balwani,
have agreed to talk me through it.
-Welcome to my lovely house.-Hi, Caroline.
-Caroline.-Shefali.
-Lovely to meet you.-Lovely to meet you too.
-Hi, I’m Robert.-Hello, Robert. Fantastic to meet you.
The owners presumably chose this spotbecause of its access to the river.
Is that important for them,the access to the countryside?
Yeah, it’s very unusual to havea house this close to the river.
I think in most parts of India,you are usually quite far away.
They did want to swim in the riverand kayak, and they do all of that.
It almost feels like it’s been partof this rural landscape forever.
-Forever, yeah.-And was that part of your plan?
Well, what’s interesting isthat the house was built
and then very quicklythe landscape took over,
and it was really with that intention
that the landscapes grew over the roof
and trees growing around it.
Structurally, there must havebeen challenges?
Yeah, it’s meant to look very simple,
but actually there are various forcesthat come on this house.
There’s the earth pressure
from behind the house that tries to movethe building downwards,
and there’s of course the weightof the roof with this big layer of soil,
and this made the structure quite heavy.
Yeah, I think the constructiontook over two years.
It’s very labor intensive,
and I think because of that,the process took that long.
The architects have created an homageto the traditional tea plantation house,
reinterpreted for this contextand the 21st century.
And I love that they’ve refusedto build in such a way
that dominates the landscape.
And Riparian acts as a vessel,in some ways,
where you can experience this landscape.
Salman, do you know where Caroline is?
I don’t know, sir.
It’s just too hard to resist.
You know, sometimes in this life,
you’re taken to see good houses,
and then you’re taken to see great houses.
But this house is like Mary Poppins.
It’s practically perfect in every way.
Reluctantly I’m going to haveto hang up my paddle
and get to our next destination.
We’re leaving behindthis oasis of tranquility
for the craziness of the city.
Mumbai has grown at such a ratein recent decades
that there are now satellite citiesto cope with the over-spill.
And we’re heading to one called Navi,or New Mumbai.
NAVI MUMBAI
We’re definitely back in the city now,Piers.
We certainly are.
If we can just get there in one piece,
we've heard there's house that combinesthe latest contemporary design
with a deep reverencefor India's architectural heritage.
So I hope we’re gonnaget up the hill in this thing.
We’re here.
That’s great. Thank you.
I’m in love already.
This appeals to my sense
of the ancient and the new
being together like that.
We’ve arrived at the fabulously eclecticCollage House.
The exterior is inspired by traditionalIndian house building
with its resourceful use of materials.
But it’s also a kind of memory box
for the disappearing architectureof the old Mumbai.
From the hand crafted doors and windowsto antique columns...
which have all been salvagedfrom demolition
and re-used hereto create something completely new.
-I’m full of anticipation.-Me too, I’m actually tingling all over.
Genuinely, I have no ideawhat’s around the corner,
because already this is a housethat's surprising me.
This is surprising me.It’s a huge metal gate. It’s enormous!
-Feel like you're in Gulliver’s Travels?-Yeah, I do. It’s absolutely enormous!
Look!
I’m dumbstruck.
-And that’s not often I hear you say that.-No.
I mean, so many ideas already.
I mean, the sense of material richness
from all of these thingsthat are re-purposed.
The pipes, the tiles,
this stone.
This is an amazing tapestry of stuff.
There’s fun everywhere.
Everywhere my eye goes, I see somethingI’m immediately fascinated by.
And I-- It's so wonderfulto have this kind of hit of adrenaline
as you arrive into a house.
We’ve only just started.
Exactly. We’ve only been herea few moments.
The architect’s challenge was to makea family home for four generations,
with a sense of space and privacyon a relatively small plot,
sandwichedbetween two neighboring buildings.
With no viewsacross epic landscapes available,
they’ve turned the focus inwardsto a central courtyard on the first floor.
CENTRAL COURTYARD
Wrapped around this are the living area,
master bedroom, and a small pool.
MASTER BEDROOM, SWIMMING POOL
On the floor above are two more bedrooms,
and there’s a glass pavilion on the roof,
supported by 100-year-old antique columns.
GLASS PAVILION WITH ANTIQUE COLUMNS
The many doors and windows on the facademight look chaotic,
but are actually carefully placedwithin a concrete frame
which connects all of the spacesfrom front to back,
across all three levels.
I’m Caroline.
The owners, Narayan and Dipti,
are taking me on a tour
to show me how they went aboutreclaiming Mumbai’s architectural past.
You know, this house is a blend of modern
as well as old.
Yes.
So if you look at it,
the floor on which you’re walkingis the modern architecture.
-This is the modern, what’s it, granite?-Yes.
And as we move up,
suddenly you'll findthat now you’re walking in a place
where the wood is more than 125 years old.
I love that.
I will show you another marvel.
-This is the hanging steps.-Yes.
It took lot of time making these steps.
Yeah, they’re wonderfully made.
When we decided to build this house,we wanted
everything to be a masterpiece.
So we couldn’t overlook the steps.
So we wanted our steps and railingsalso to be a masterpiece.
We told our architect
that I’m not goingto make another house in my life,
so whatever I’m making now
is going to be the last house,
so it has to be a very memorable house.
It’s a home. There’s a differencebetween a house and a home.
And it’s so important that a houseisn’t just a house, that it is a home.
And your house is clearlyfull of fascinating objects
and design features.
I mean, this is wonderful!
These are actually called printing blocks,
which the artisans use it for printing on,
making printing on saris, on fabric.
They were about 600 piecesthat I picked up
and brought them here.
And then we made this lovely design.
-How amazing.-With these blocks.
Curiously for such a innovative house,
the language of constructionis fairly familiar.
There’s a steel frame,there’s concrete slabs,
but within that, there’sa mind-blowing approach to recycling,
upcycling, salvaging, reclaiming...
Each one of these windows and doorson this front elevation
has been taken from a reclamation yard.
There’s then a strategy for howall of these are gonna fit together,
and the whole becomesan extraordinary patchwork,
a composition
that just makes this house truly original.
Hello.
[doors bang shut]
These recycling solutionsare all over the house,
with reclaimed materialsgiven imaginative new purposes.
This is a bedhead and a cupboard
made from salvagedand recycled picture frames.
It’s also, of course, highly decorative,
and decoration has been banishedfrom architecture by architects
for about 100 years or so.
Architects are kinda fascistsabout all that stuff.
There’s this myththat somehow less is more.
But more is always more.
And there’s more wherever you look.
Pretty much every bathroomI’ve ever been in, I know what to expect.
But this is likesome brilliantly crazy hall of mirrors
that you might find in a fairground,
but it’s also really sensible.
It isn’t just whimsy.These are all salvaged mirrors,
reused here, set out beautifully,
but then the water pipe that comes down is
painted pink and then it’s a light,
becomes a towel rail,
becomes a loo-roll holder.
It’s so witty, so engaging,and so purposeful.
Bringing such anarchic funto the design of Collage House
were project architectsShilpa and Pinkish Shah.
How did you begin to knowhow to piece together...
a hundred thousand different components?
It had become a little bit like jazzwhere you kind of improvise a little bit.
There’s a kind of loose structure,
but you’re playing aroundand riffing in the middle.
And it’s been a joyful journeybecause of that, that you allow,
let it take over a life of its own,
but you are there to kind of pull it,tweak it, you know?
And put it in place.
I mean it started with the windows,for sure.
And once that got into motion,and other things,
like now we know,flows that are gonna be downtake pipes.
And monsoons in Mumbai are gorgeous;
I mean, it’s such heavy rain thatthe downtake pipes are just gushing water.
So then we said,"Why not make it into a feature?"
So that’s how if you see the pipes,they come kind of down,
and they allow the water to be seenduring-- it’s an event, you know?
It's about finding,capturing these moments
about seasonal change
and the acts of everyday life being made
kind of dignified and joyousin some sense, you know?
And Mumbai is also gradually disappearing,unfortunately.
It’s being sanitized;lots of buildings are coming down.
So here’s an opportunityto salvage a part of that memory
and make it yours.
And is there a wider applicabilityof this approach
in other buildings for other architects,for other people, for other clients?
I think the amount of wastethat we as a society
are kind of producing is crazy,
and I think, if anything,
maybe this is like a wake-up call
for all of us to just remind ourselvesagain of, you know,
where we can really use our resourcesmore carefully
so that we don’t produce as much waste.
I’ve been an architect for 20 years,something like that,
and very few buildingsreally challenge us.
But I think this building does,
because it does so many thingsat the same time.
It’s witty and serious.
It’s playful and stern.
It’s controlled and loose.
And all those other opposing thingsthat you never thought could sit together.
And I think,
you know, as you look forward,
you sort of wonder,
"Where is the road map for the future?"
But for me...
I think it’s here.
Talk about being cranked up to eleven.
I don’t think I'd ever imagined
anywhere being as viscerally stimulatingas India.
It’s true. It’s sometimes overwhelmingfor all the senses, isn’t it?
The colors, the sights, the sounds,the smells, the people.
But what’s been a real excitement for me
is the fact that the houseshave lived up to all that.
They've been so clever and so differentand so original and so witty.
In a way, I think they've shown me
I just need to raise my own game.
They've challenged me like nothing.
Subtitle translation by Metia Bethell