Hive House
By the Tapi River, the Indian city of Surat (Gujarat) has built its fame as a centre for textiles. In Vesu, the upcoming part of the city, a metallic structure constructed as a mono-space living has recently been completed.
By the Tapi River, the Indian city of Surat (Gujarat) has built its fame as a centre for textiles. In Vesu, the upcoming part of the city, a metallic structure constructed as a mono-space living has recently been completed.
The Hive house by Openideas Architects as an intelligent, adaptable and sustainable family home. The form of the house is seeded in the profession of the client who produce machines for the diamond industry.
The client’s brief was very clear: a smart structure rendered in metal and a ‘mono-space’ living area. Along with those primary thoughts, he communicated an almost 90-point brief with inputs connected to diverse points — from structure, landscape, planning, materials, sustainability, insulation, along with entire year’s sun path study.
The list of challenges was as long as the 90-point brief including presence of metal, the concepts of long span, light weight, a complex form, fast construction, external temperature, humidity, solar radiation, cloud cover and wind pattern.
The architecture is expressed as an angular V-shaped structure oriented towards the green pockets around the house. The entrance creates a bridge with a sunken court and stepped garden, a linear arrival corridor and the walk-able green roof with varying slopes. This roof technically acts as a thermal insulation, lowering the overall temperature of the interiors, while functionally doubles up as a congregational area for social gatherings.
The eye-catcher is the solar sensor-based façade. Its geometry is inspired by the hexagonal structural patterns found in nature such as those of honeycombs and carbon crystals, hence the name of the house.
The unique opening mechanism of the facade positions is derivatives of quality of light exposure and thermal comfort levels inside the house. Experientially, the modules create striking sciagraphy by casting patterns that change with the diurnal rhythm of the sun.
Indoors, the architecture has been conceived as open and fluid, both in plan and volume. The ground floor mixes public, private and semi-private zones through modulations in the outer envelope along with a bespoke entrance vestibule.
The upper level, accessed via a sculptural staircase, accommodated two bedrooms. The connection to greens remains steadfast owing to the presence of a small garden attached to each bedroom.
While the façade mechanism was inspired by doors of airport buses, the structure of the stair (which spans seven metres and has a thickness of 38 mm) was taken from the structural formation of hexagonal diagrid popular seen in Ikea furniture pieces. Similarly, the movement of radio antennae informs the window opening mechanisms and the ‘kadki door’ of forts (a door within a door) was replicated in the entrance.
Pictures by Fabien Charuau, Yash Parekh - Panchkon