The Lattice House is located on the outskirts of Jammu, India’s northernmost city. Its backdrop typifies the dynamics of urbanisation in many tiny Indian cities, which is outpacing government or municipal action. Informal settlements and private need-based developments begin to affect the rapidly urbanising terrain. In addition, official planning initiatives are just reactions to new and informal settlements.
Lattice House in Jammu, India, is made up of stacked horizontal volumes that are coated with vertical timber battens to control the amount of sunlight that enters. Sameep Padora & Associates developed Lattice House as a second house with the possibility of renting out the upper level.
Each horizontal band is gently adjusted to shade the level below, and cladding constructed of lengths of local deodar wood serves to screen direct sunlight. The thick grid of wooden battens was designed to give the building’s façade a substantial and impenetrable sense, addressing security concerns associated with the house’s rare usage.
The Lattice House has no walls throughout its length, instead relying on a light layered shell of openable wood and glass to provide airflow while protecting the inside from harsh climatic conditions.
Internally, the Lattice House is divided into two levels: the ground floor, which is occupied by the owner’s family, and an upper storey with a similar floor plan, which may be rented out. To fulfil the owner’s request for a layout conducive to entertaining friends and family, the kitchen is bordered on one side by a garden and on the other by an open-plan living and dining space. Rooms on the first floor lead onto balconies covered by timber panelling, which also conceals services and storage on the top of the building.
To retain a light mood and continuous lines of sight between the various rooms, solid walls were avoided in the major living spaces, while sleeping suites are situated at the other end of the plan from the garden to maintain the interior’s openness.
The Lattice House is programmed to reflect the client’s lifestyle, which includes a lot of entertaining, and therefore the kitchen becomes the focal point of the layout, bordered on one side by the living/dining area and the lawn on the other. The private functions of the bedrooms are located in the back, allowing the common programmes of living, dining, and cooking to take place as a continuous area towards the front, opening out into the lawn. All programmes, whether private or public, open into garden spaces on the side or front.
The property is in a rapidly developing metropolitan suburb in northwest India, which is dominated by informal settlements that appear quicker than traditional planning measures can be adopted to regulate them. As a result, the structure is designed as a strong and grounded stack of basic cubic volumes rising above the sprawl of heterogeneous surrounding structures.
The stacked offset box shape alludes to how other buildings in the region develop vertically over time as the occupant families grow. The thick grid of wooden battens was designed to give the building’s façade a substantial and impenetrable sense, addressing security concerns associated with the house’s rare usage.
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