The project site is located in the heart of Jaipur, in close proximity to the Birla Auditorium and abutting an earlier residential development also by the client, which is considered to be one of the key contemporary landmarks of the city.
The very urban structure of Jaipur, which was designed as a capital of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, showcases the history and culture of the Rajputs. Changing at a rapid growing into a major business centre and tourist destination of India, Jaipur today has all the prerequisites for a conscious growth from its historical traditions and cultural identity.
The residential development moves from the contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional Haveli as sprawling extended-family dwelling, which includes different generations of the same family collected around the same courtyard. Evolving organically, the Haveli is both “inclusive” and “exclusive”: it addresses the needs of the nuclear family with a progression of different spaces from private to semi-private, semi-public and public, promoting both the sense of community as well as allowing for an expression of the individual identity of each family.
The architecture creates a system of Haveli combined together to form a unique residential complex, which is the arrangement of a macro-Haveli (characterized by a unique macro-courtyard) and multiple micro-Haveli (characterized by micro-courtyards). The macro-courtyard enhances the feeling of the community of the neighbourhood, while the micro-courtyards secure the intimacy of each family. For this reason, even if the space of the micro-courtyards is continuous through the cross section of the building, the perception of the courtyard is psychologically individual by each unit. The courtyards are stepped and tapered in order to protect from the direct sun, create natural ventilation and open the view from inside without being seeing from outside.
Also the elevations are shaped by a positive/negative design of loggias, filtering the intimate spaces and providing buffer zones that can be directly and personally customised by each resident, with a double value: a thermal regulating one responding to the climatic conditions of Rajasthan, and an architectural one in extending the interior living space towards the exterior landscape, with different uses as seasons change.