Residence 568, Haryana

The Residence 568 project designed by Architectural design firm Charged Voids is located in Panchkula (Haryana), a satellite town of Chandigarh. The site is a row house plot located adjacent to one of the internal sector roads of Panchkula, facing a busy street and a school building, which does not provide for a pleasant view. The concept of the project evolved from a close analysis of the family setups of large Indian families in the urban context and thus strives for the perfect balance between private and public spaces as well as the interrelation between generations.

The house is designed around a courtyard with the public spaces overlooking it. The varied scale of public and private spaces and their different interactions with the outdoors was a central idea of this project. The public spaces were expanded volumetrically to emphasize their importance as congregational spaces. The concept of cross-axes has been employed in this project as well, an approach often adopted for smaller houses.

The main strategy is to cut down the thermal intake of the house. Since the residence is a row house plot, the longer edges are common to neighboring residences and the shorter edges form the front and rear facades, facing West and East respectively. Hence, to cut down the harsh West sun, a specific metal jaali pattern was designed to allow in diffused light. The terrace gardens on the second floor help reduce the thermal mass of the structure, reducing heat gains and keeping the living spaces cool.

The project was designed keeping in mind the prevalent construction practices and locally available materials. Composite R.C.C and local brick have been used, and the overall material palette is limited to only white marble and Sivakasi gold granite along with simple white painted surfaces.