PROJECTS

P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
INTERNAL BEAUTY, EXTERNAL AESTHETICS
The Shantiniketan building in Delhi, designed by Mumbai-
based RMA Architects, organises three apartments in a
way that exterior and interior spaces wrap around each
other to create a sequence of spatial experiences, unfolding
in their qualities of light and scale. The design ideas for
this building consciously engage with issues of urban
aspirations and building policies in cities such as Delhi
RMA Architects
Opposite page: layers
of landscape grow on
both the horizontal and
vertical planes.
Above and below: the
building form with its
openings and changing
scales of courtyards,
engages visually with
its neighbouring urban
fabric, yet using the
walls, openings and
courtyards optimally and
within dened bye-laws
Interview with Rahul Mehrotra by Kaiwan Mehta
Photos RMA Architects
Kaiwan MehtaThe home in the city is a
specic typology, especially in cities such as
Delhi or Bengaluru as against Mumbai where
planning, and the way land is processed in
the city has dened how people imagine the
home and its location within a street (often
gated in the case of Delhi). How did your
awareness of planning histories and cities
affect the design of this house?
Rahul MehrotraThe history of housing
in the city, and more specically Delhi, was
central in imagining this project. Both the
histories of Old and New Delhi informed these
discussions and the question became how
we could respond to both the aspiration and
nostalgia for the colonial compound of New
Delhi as well as the wonderful qualities of the
intelligence of the traditional mohallas and
havelis in Old Delhi. Naturally the challenge
then was how one responded in terms of
urban design, the relationship to the street as
well as constructing the scale of a home.
Furthermore, there were personal histories
and memories to respond to. This project
exemplies whats happening in many of
the colonies in New Delhi where a single-
family house built in the 1940s or 50s gets
divided into a two-family house in the 1970s
and 80s, and now each of the single-family
homes in this subdivision has the potential
(on account of changing laws) to potentially
be divided in to a series of apartments for
the third generation. So these projects or
properties then carry memories of at least
two generations and have to encode the
aspirations of the third.
Thus, keeping all this in mind we tried to
balance the question of scale on the street and
the overall massing on the site while trying
to create a labyrinth-like quality within each
apartment where spaces unfold as you move
thorough each unit without the simplistic
repletion of apartment over apartment. We
realised, in order to do this we would need to
think sectional about the problem, giving each
unit the advantage of at least two levels not
just in terms of privacy, contact with nature
and changing light quality, but also the views
out to the city.
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

R
a
je
s
h

V
o
r
a
PROJECTS 61 domus 25 January 2014
KMThere is a precarious balance between
making homes in the city completely inward-
looking, and centripetal, and letting them
connect with the city and the street, and the
world outside. How do you understand your
design approach vis-a-vis this aspect?
RMIn terms of the relationship of the
building to the city in addition to controlling
the scale of the building at the street level
through an entry court that mediates the
transition into the interiors we very
carefully constructed a series of shared spaces
that lead up to the entry. Call them porous
lobbies or verandahs we envisaged different
residents in the apartments could use these
spaces at different times ranging from
receiving vendors to even entertainment.
This idea of a privacy-gradient is a historic
attitude both in the colonial bungalow as
well the traditional haveli in Delhi and is
critical in softening the threshold between
the public space of the street and the private
interior within.
But for us, the more important design
strategy here is about how one can actually
internalise the ostentation (and we mean
this in positive terms) as we did traditionally.
In the haveli or the traditional courtyard-
house, the building gained its identity as well
as its symmetry from the internal spaces
organised around an open-to sky-courtyard
most often a perfectly orthogonal void. This
is the complete inverse of the bungalow or
the house as a freestanding object, where the
imagery, identity and symmetry are derived
from the facade or the external composition.
It was really for this reason the building we
designed is very understated on the outside
with the idea that if any of the residents
or owners actually wanted to transform
the interior for their own self-expression, it
This page: model
showing lateral section
of the building, as well
as the evelation of the
same; process diagrams
indicating the design
development. Opposite
page above: the formal
aesthetics and siting
of the building in the
urban context
PROJECTS 62 domus 25 January 2014
would be internalised. Today, in India, the
externalisation of ostentation is problematic
and can heighten the polarities that exist
in such extreme forms in our society.
Every society as outlets for ostentation. In
India, in the past ve or six decades, it has
been jewellery or weddings (and this still
continues) but now, in our post-liberalised
economy, the built environment is also
becoming one such outlet for ostentation. This
aspiration is also one that through design we
cant change, but we believe we can resist. So
in this apartment building, traditional types
of introverted congurations inspired us and
we attempted to create a spatial conguration
where internal beauty is emphasised as
much as external aesthetics as the venue of
ostentation, internalised!
KMThere is a very ne play of scale in the
houses they enjoy a good, narrow but large
footprint but in the internal geography of
these homes, the scale is very grounded. How
would you respond to this in terms of dening
a typology and its elements like stairways,
terraces, windows, as well as in terms of the
process you employed?
RMDeceptive in its external simplicity, the
interiors are rather complex. This apartment
building internalises three interlocking, yet
completely different, duplex apartments of
200m
2
each. Named after the neighbourhood
in which it is located, Shantiniketan, and
conceptualised in tandem with the clients
desire to incorporate a central aangan
(courtyard), the building form is a direct
manifestation of complex internal geometries.
While all three apartments cover an equal
area of 200m
2
, each unit varies from the other
through a precisely and uniquely located
private duplex staircase, which in turn P
h
o
t
o

R
a
je
s
h

V
o
r
a
PROJECTS 63 domus 25 January 2014
1950- FirstGeneration
G+1Level - Single Residence
1975- SecondGeneration
G+2Levels - Three Individual Residences
2013- ThirdGeneration
G+4Levels - Two MultifamilyResidences
This page and opposite:
volumetric development of
the design and the cross-
sectional understanding
1 Entrance porch
2 Lobby
3 Living room
4 Dining room
5 Kitchen
6 Master bedroom
7 Guest room
8 Study
9 Powder room
10 Puja room
11 Garden
12 Planter
13 Covered verandah
14 Deck
15 Service space
16 Courtyard
0 6M
11
13
9
14
15
9
3 4
5
7
8
7
8
8
9
7
6
12
6
TERRACE PLAN
THIRD PLAN PLAN
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
PROJECTS 64 domus 25 January 2014
0 6M
5
3
4
12
7 7
7
12
11
1
A A
2
16
4
3 5 6
10
11
Project
Shantiniketan
Architect
RMA Architects Pvt. Ltd.
Design Team
Rahul Mehrotra, Robert
Stephens, Payal Patel,
Siddharth Nadkarny,
Prashant Saudagar
Client
Neena Laroia
Civil Contractors
Vanbros Construction India
Ltd
Carpentry
Vanbros Construction
India Ltd
Structural
Vijay K. Patil & Associates
Plumbing and HVAC
Arkk Consultants
Landscape
Amitabh Teotia
Location
New Delhi
Area
1.486 m
2

Initiation of Project
2011(design phase)
Completion of Project
2013 (construction phase)
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
7
6
3
2 1
11
3 4
7
7
7
3 5
16 11
SECTION PERSPECTIVE AA
111 1111111111 1111111111
PROJECTS 65 domus 25 January 2014
Above:conceptualised in
tandem with the clients
desire to incorporate a
central aangan (courtyard),
the building form is a
direct manifestation
of complex internal
geometries. Below:
varying degrees of privacy
that can be achieved
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
PROJECTS 66 domus 25 January 2014
generates a unique layout for each apartment.
As if in a jugalbandi ensemble, each private
stair and subsequent circulation spaces nd
close proximity to an internal courtyard,
which draws light deep into the core of the
building. Bound by an exposed concrete wall
with red pigmentation, the visual texture of
this internal courtyard wall is a reference
to the exposed grey concrete of the external
aangan wall.
Located centrally in plan, and expanding in
section, the aangan serves as a green lung
a breathing space that is both aesthetic
and performative. It is here that a dense
repository of trees, shrubs, and creepers grow,
and are visible from all three apartments.
Layers of landscape grow on both the
horizontal and vertical planes, and are
coupled with a misting system on the aangan
facade to cool it and create a humid condition
in the lung, thereby insulating the building
against harsh and dry Delhi summers.
The green of the aangan spills into, and
occupies, what otherwise would become
residual setback spaces, which are required
as per sanctions regulations. Through the
appropriation of setbacks, these peripheral
areas become functional spaces, such as an
entry courtyard, an area for parking, and
a garden pathway, which leads to a puja
(prayer) room enveloped in green.
A central core houses a common staircase, lift,
and shafts for technical services a shared
infrastructure-spine around which the living
spaces are organised. It is in this zone that
the private entrance to each apartment is
located, again creating a common ground
for the otherwise diverse apartments. At the
terrace level, the core culminates in a common
Above: the misting
system on the aangan
facade that cools
it, creating a humid
condition in the lung,
thereby insulating the
building against harsh
and dry Delhi summers
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

R
a
je
s
h

V
o
r
a
PROJECTS 67 domus 25 January 2014
This page: the entry
area, entrance court
and the range of other
spaces inside and
outside develop a
spatial language that
is urban, yet private,
as well as supportive
of landscaped aangan
that serves as a shared
public space and a
green lung
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

R
o
b
e
r
t

S
t
e
p
h
e
n
s
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
PROJECTS 68 domus 25 January 2014
entertainment space with a lotus pond that
is also shared by all three apartments. This
results in a unique hybrid typology that is
neither apartment nor single-family home,
but builds on the logic and organisational
principles of both.
KMDo you think the jugalbandi you
mention is important and could be extended
to an apartment building with more units?
RMI think the idea that an apartment
building need not be a repetitive set of
slabs for living stacked on each other is
an important issue as this type is used
more intensely in our transforming urban
landscape. This, we believe is especially
true in cities like Delhi or other cities that
essentially have grown as low-rise cities and
are now morphing in to a greater density
through the high(er)-rise mode. Low-rise cities
tend to perpetuate individuality in a positive
way through form. They tend to be more
incremental in the way they grow and then
spawn a very particular visual culture on the
street but also on the interior for personal
expression. We think a city like New Delhi,
and more particularly South Delhi, given the
intensity of these types of development that
are occurring, could develop a very particular
urban texture if this type of hybrid apartment
building is taken seriously in the design
discourse. This is really a hybrid between the
freestanding colonial bungalow (the ultimate
expression for the middle class and rich India)
and the apartment type, which would more
naturally occur in denser urban conditions.
So if one does take this hybrid form seriously
then the challenge is how one can reinforce
the essential aspects of both. The rationalised,
efcient, repetitive quality of a stacked
apartment block and the individual character
of different havelis stacked on each other! We
believe that sectional imagination becomes
critical in doing this, and then the more
perceptual aspects of views, light, materials,
textures, and a connection to green etc. follow.
We believe there is no upper limit in terms
of the permutations and combination one
can generate for this kind of interlocking or
dialogue a jugalbandi between the different
apartments. The more critical question then
becomes what can the street take in terms
of mass and also infrastructure? So at some
point, the conversation naturally shifts to
urban design and planning.
KMWhat were some of your crucial
learnings/experiences in terms of designing a
collection of houses within an urban plot, an
urban colony?
RMThe most important question for us was
that within the increased Floor Space Index
or FSI that is now allowed on a small plot like
this, how would one fragment and distribute
the mass such that the street was disturbed to
the minimum?
Of course the moment one sets up that
as a question, the starting point becomes
urban design. So for us, the learning was
This page: each unit varies
from the other through
a precisely and uniquely
located private duplex
staircase, which in turn
generates a unique layout
for each apartment
P
h
o
t
o

R
a
je
s
h

V
o
r
a
P
h
o
t
o

R
a
je
s
h

V
o
r
a
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
PROJECTS 69 domus 25 January 2014
This page: the apartment
building internalises
three interlocking, yet
completely different,
duplex apartments
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

R
a
je
s
h

V
o
r
a
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
PROJECTS 70 domus 25 January 2014
really about how the transformations
and densication in South Delhi, largely
a landscape of low-rise and low-density
colonies, can be transformed facilitating
some of the existing qualities in terms of
lifestyle that they currently support, in
addition to aspects such as connection to
green, adequate sunlight, cross ventilation,
a human scale, differing views (as one went
vertical) and most importantly, individual
identity. The other learning that was
important was about how through design
one can appropriate and integrate the legal
setbacks and margins of the property (usually
either left as residual or used for services)
into the fundamental spatial experiences
of the building. Thus, the front setback
was transformed in an entry court that
seamlessly integrates with the entrance of
the apartment building without feeling like
the front setback. Or the side setbacks, after
accommodating the basic requirements for
parking, transition into gardens that then
support the vertical green wall. The terrace
is similarly used as open-to-sky living space
with green and water bodies that, besides
insulating the roof, also offers an alternate
landscape. And lastly, we learned that a
long, narrow plot that results from multi-
generational subdivisions is an interesting
design challenge, but closer to many
traditional urban types in India than the
colonial bungalow. This then offers wonderful
ways to evoke the qualities and intelligence
of the historic urban house or the haveli:
Top: the core culminates
in a common
entertainment space
with a lotus pond that is
also shared by all three
apartments. Right: the
exposed grey concrete
of the external aangan
wall, with the skeletal
structure for the creepers
to grow on
with its rich experience of space unfolding,
varying light qualities and the spectrum
of differing scales. We tried to incorporate
these qualities as one traverses through
this property something one does not
expect when one arrives at an apartment
building in a New Delhi colony!
P
h
o
t
o

T
in
a

N
a
n
d
i
P
h
o
t
o

R
a
je
s
h

V
o
r
a
PROJECTS 71 domus 25 January 2014