vadsar house

The house is nestled between forest, lake, and orchard, conceived as a home for three generations. Its scale responds to the vastness of the landscape while remaining intimate in occupation. Courtyards, verandahs, and shaded thresholds dissolve the boundary between inside and outside, allowing daily life to unfold in rhythm with climate and season. A central court binds the house vertically, drawing light, air, and movement through its heart, while deep verandahs temper heat and create social spaces of repose.

At the expanding edge of Ahmedabad, where farmland is increasingly reshaped into private enclaves, this project began by asking a fundamental question: can architecture become an act of repair rather than occupation? Set within the hydrological catchment of Jedva Lake, the land carries a memory of water, soil, and seasonal overflow—systems often erased in the pursuit of development.

Before building, the land was healed. Soil taken from the lakebed was returned, restoring natural contours and water flows. Indigenous woodland was regenerated along the lake edge using the Miyawaki method, while canals, ring wells, and percolation wells re-established the site’s relationship with its aquifer. Ecology preceded architecture, forming the project’s ethical ground.

Constructed as a load-bearing masonry structure, the house is grounded in material restraint and climatic intelligence. Re-purposed timber louvers define the fenestration, enabling filtered light and ventilation, with glass limited to deeply shaded zones. Lime and dolomite finishes enhance thermal stability, while planted roof terraces extend the landscape upward, softening heat and reimagining the roof as inhabitable ground. Kota stone paving, finished from smooth to river-washed textures, anchors the architecture to the earth.

Rooted in land, water, and lived experience, the project positions architecture not as an imposition, but as a quiet continuation of the site’s ecology.

location:

vadsar, ahmedabad, gujarat

design team:

uday andhare mausami andhare anurag rajput swapnil parashar maitri panchal

consultants:

structural consultant: ami engineers, mehul shah; plumbing consultant : jaycon consultants, vaishali mewada; carpentry work: dungarsinh mistry, ahmedabad & yashwant mistry; fabrication work: khodiyar engineering works, bhavesh panchal

site area:

4,65,579 sq. feet

building area:

34,154 sq. feet

photo credits:

uday andhare
See all images

The centrifugal expansion of Ahmedabad has, over recent decades, transformed its agrarian peripheries into large, privately owned landholdings—self-contained enclaves where families seek the dual promise of rural living and urban proximity. In this transition, the intrinsic logic of the land—its water systems, catchments, soil profiles, and ecological memory—is often subordinated to development imperatives, resulting in irreversible environmental disruption. This project began by questioning that trajectory: what is the responsibility of architecture when it engages with living land, and how might design act as a restorative rather than extractive force?

The 11-acre site, located northwest of Ahmedabad near the Vadsar airbase, lies within the larger hydrological catchment of Jedva Lake—a natural depression historically prone to monsoon flooding when unobstructed. The land was envisioned to accommodate a multi-generational family residence for twelve members, along with supporting staff of approximately ten. Initial site
investigations revealed a critical intervention predating the project: nearly 2.5 acres of the site had been artificially raised by approximately 1.2 metres using clayey soil excavated from the adjacent lakebed. This fill, unsuitable for construction or vegetation, had severed the site’s relationship with the lake’s natural inflow and disrupted the ecological balance of the catchment.

The first and most consequential architectural act was not construction, but ecological repair. The filled lakebed soil was carefully removed and returned to the lake to re-establish its original contours and hydrological function. Regeneration of the lake edge was initiated using indigenous plant species—shrubs, understory plants, and large canopy trees—through the Miyawaki
afforestation method, enabling rapid establishment of a dense woodland. A continuous forested zone was integrated into the site masterplan, reinforcing the lake edge while restoring biodiversity. A peripheral canal was constructed to reconnect natural water flows from adjoining lands back into the lake, allowing monsoon runoff to move freely across the landscape. This canal was intercepted by a newly constructed ring well to tap the shallow aquifer, reducing dependence on deep borewells, while percolation wells distributed across the site recharge groundwater. Healing the land and establishing a resilient site ecology preceded all building activity and formed the ethical foundation of the project.

The adaptive reuse of the existing pump house and farmstead into a guest house marked the first built intervention on site, accompanied by the construction of a new overhead water tank. Conceived as a critical service infrastructure, this block integrated pumps, underground storage, and distribution systems, reinforcing the project’s emphasis on self-sufficiency and responsible resource management.

The main residence is carefully nestled between the regenerated forest, the lake edge, and existing fruit orchards. Conceived as a home for three generations living together, the architecture balances scale and intimacy—responding to the vastness of the landscape while fostering close familial interaction. A sequence of verandahs, courtyards, and thresholds defines the spatial character of the house, with each open-to-sky court acting as an extension of domestic life into the garden. The entry court, kitchen court, and temple court anchor daily rituals and seasonal occupation, dissolving boundaries between inside and outside. A central inner court vertically connects the lower and upper living spaces, allowing light, air, and visual continuity to coalesce the house as a single inhabitable volume. Deep verandahs along the south-east and west elevations temper heat gain, creating shaded social spaces that remain usable throughout the day and across seasons.

Below ground, pile foundations and grade beams establish a robust plinth, supporting a predominantly load-bearing masonry structure. Quetta bond masonry walls, combined with a confined masonry construction system, form the structural and spatial backbone of the house. Fenestration across the residence is crafted from re-purposed timber, articulated primarily as louvered openings that enable controlled ventilation, filtered daylight, and visual privacy. The
use of glass is consciously restrained and limited to deeply shaded zones, ensuring that heat gain is curtailed while maintaining select visual connections with the landscape. Walls are finished internally with lime and dolomite stucco, enhancing thermal stability, breathability, and long-term
material performance, while external walls are rendered in cement plaster and paint to balance durability with climatic responsiveness.

The architectural vocabulary is further defined by exposed concrete slabs and shading elements that protect fenestrations, complemented by steel and bamboo pergolas. These pergola structures act as biophilic frameworks, supporting climbers and green cover while modulating light and shade. All paving across the site is executed in Kota stone, with finishes varying from smooth surfaces to river-wash textures, responding to programmatic needs while reinforcing a tactile continuity between the built form and the landscape. Thermal performance is further enhanced through planted roof terraces that mitigate heat gain and reinterpret first-floor open spaces as a new inhabitable ground plane—extending the landscape vertically and reinforcing the project’s
dialogue between architecture, ecology, and lived experience.

The centrifugal expansion of Ahmedabad has, over recent decades, transformed its agrarian peripheries into large, privately owned landholdings—self-contained enclaves where families seek the dual promise of rural living and urban proximity. In this transition, the intrinsic logic of the land—its water systems, catchments, soil profiles, and ecological memory—is often subordinated to development imperatives, resulting in irreversible environmental disruption. This project began by questioning that trajectory: what is the respon. . .
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