Ahmedabad-based architecture practice SAK Designs has designed a weekend home clad in bamboo screens that create a rustic appearance on the outskirts of Pune, India.

The project, named Weekend Getaway, the 622-square-metre house is a mix of new type of luxury living and rustic living blended in nature looking at lush greens.

The house is very close to the client's own farm and parents to enjoy the simplicity of this place. Creating a continuous journey in itself, the house's program is scattered through halls that connect programmatic volumes.

The client preferred raw and rustic experience over a luxury stay, as the studio highlights. "This particular project for us has been not just architecture but an approach in designing experiences or merging nature or nature living. When we want to run away from the city, we want to run away from the feel of it mostly and what better escape can it be than this," said SAK Designs.

This house inhabits not just individuals but also various flora and fauna with each changing season. The architects wanted to keep the plan layout as simple as possible, while playing with levels in and around the house. 

So the house creates artificial contours within the landscape, the pool that sits on a level much lower than the house, the cantilevered deck, the floating balconies, and a manmade lake. 

Minimalism is reflected on the façade, while the scale and details of the built-form resonates optimism as one walks down the unpaved contours of the house. 

Users encounter a blue wooden door to enter a large courtyard, a low height foyer, which is consciously preferred to give a rustic look and scale, embraced by an open courtyard.

The house is surrounded by lush greens, bamboo screens and white textured walls, which forms the character of the house. Its courtyard houses the water body, landscape with a plenty of plant species and a floating concrete staircase that leads users to terrace. 

It further bifurcates private and semi-private areas, which connects to a series of sitting spaces, an open kitchen, a dining, and bedrooms with built-in furniture. 

"Few steps down, and one is amazed to see the beautiful view of the lake with a calm pool and local landscape allowing the house to sit quietly within its context," added the firm.

A dense green belt alongside living room also dominates around the house and extends itself to the dining area. According to the architects, "this creates harmony within the space making it an experiential part of indoors." 

While the house presents an earthy feeling, a piece of modern furniture adds a contemporary touch to the house. The living room is connected to the deck overlooking the farm and pool - a manmade lake with greens creates an unprecedented experience. 

There is a built-in barbeque area on the adjacent side. The architects kept the furniture in bedrooms as minimal. The bed itself is a platform in brick plaster base with a mattress on top.

For construction, the architects used a few materials such as stone, bamboo, and the How we see it, this house sets an example of a polite conversation between the nature, the architecture and  users.

"How we see it, this house sets an example of a polite conversation between the nature, the architecture and  users," added the studio.

Site plan

Ground floor plan

Project facts

Project name: Weekend Getaway

Architects: SAK Designs

Location: Pune, India 

Size: 622m2

Date: 2020

All images © Ishita Sitwala | The Fishy Project

All drawings © SAK Designs

> via SAK Designs