Traditional Ethos

By Marina Correa

Photography: Tejas Shah; Courtesy Dipen Gada & Associates

Ar. Dipen Gada’s Vadodara-based Tree House project reinstates his signature style, where bold yet minimalist design forms the hallmark. The house gets its name from a tree motif that lies at the crux of its composition.

The motif makes a statuesque presence on the virgin white façade through a cement sheet cut-out and gets subtler as it weaves its way into the living room and bedrooms via a jet spray on the wall, brass leaf cut-outs on side tables, water jet on the headboard, embroidery on cushions, and the like.

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“The main constraint we faced was incorporating a 4BHK home with entrance foyer, terrace garden and boutique in a tight plot of 2,950 sq ft,” says Gada. An intelligent juxtaposition of horizontal and vertical spaces have led to this seamless inside-outside equation planned as per vaastu and climatic conditions.

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Clean straight lines and minimalism is reflected in the overall design blueprint, where although the structural mass communicates solidity, numerous finely crafted fenestrations ensure naturally lit interiors. Using the traditional jali in a more contemporary manner, complemented by cut-outs that filter natural light into the interiors, an element of ethnicity is introduced into the modern structure.

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Drawing a parallel, I am reminded of Austrian-American sculptor Erwin Hauer, whose creations take on different forms with the incidence of the sun. Here, a liberal use of skylights, pergolas, tree-motif fenestrations, veneered motif partitions, lamp cut-outs ensures a constant play of light that affects material, texture and spatial comprehensions, suffusing the home with a dramatic overture that makes the simple interiors appear grand.

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Further, use of antique elements like an heirloom brass vessel with an antique spout in the balcony or rustic looking tiles juxtaposed against highly polished William Italian marble dado in one of the bathrooms immediately break away from the symmetry.

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Overall, the home is an exercise in comfortable contemporary spaces, up-to-the-minute in terms of standard, quality and style yet seeped in timeless appeal; a warmth that makes materials into home.

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