This Villa Has a Story

8/9/2019 This Villa Has a Story

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This villa has a story: The commission was given to Le Corbusier in 1951 for the residence of a Mr. Hutheesing !ecretaryof the Millowners with a set of re"uirements #rimarily #ersonal com#licated and subtle. $ust when the construction #lanswere com#leted Mr. Hutheesing there u#on sold them to Mr. !hodhan who owned another #lot and desired to startconstruction immediately. %s luc& would have it Le Corbusier's (ndian #ro)ects are always dictated a #riori by the (ndians.The transfer of this house to a new #lot was therefore a #erfectly natural event.

The #lans reveal an evident structural sim#licity but also countering this a wonderful #lasticity in the handling of therooms*in their form their dimensions in the shadows of the brise*soleil on the fa+ades and of the roof #arasol and

moreover in the hanging gardens swe#t by an orchestration of benificient air currents. This #lan recalls the ingenuity ofthe ,illa !avoye of 19-9*/ at 0oissy #laced here in a tro#ical and (ndian setting as well as in Le Corbusier's #ost*195/style.

The raw concrete of the fa+ades showing the im#rint of the wooden formwor& is #ur#osely left unfinished the forms aremade from what wood was available. % smooth finish a##ears only under the roof #arasol and on the interior ceilings*these forms are therefore of sheet*metal and the resulting surface will receive intense color magnifying the raw concrete.

% characteristic element is furnished by the ram# which leads to the me22anine and to the main level. %bove theaccommodations are dis#osed in the s#ace of a 3hanging garden3 on several levels constituting three a#artmentsse#arate and yet in contact with one another. %t the ground level a##lication of the 3o#timum #avement3 Modulor.

Perhaps some aspects of flexible design, combined with a lot of the client’s respect for

the designer! As a freestanding object in space, it could conveniently realign, reorient

and adapt to the new site configuration as well as landscape. Designed for the warmer

climate and extroverted client, Villa Shodhan is a story of roof parasol. Living quarters of

the house are sheltered under an umbrella-like free standing roof parasol. A fitting device

for the hot-dry climate where shade is essential during daytime and the outdoor is

pleasant in the evening. Terraces under the canopy of stars and overlooking the

swimming pool have their roots in tales of Arabian nights and the flamboyant client

profile.

Essentially a cube in concrete, the house is eloquently composed to kinetically balance

the solids with voids – a dynamic sculpture, ever changing with the position of sun,

through mutual shading. The nearly-plain facade of the relatively cool north-east is

contrasted by the Brise soleil – an elaborately louvered sun screen of the south-west.

Such modulation of south-west provides the much needed shade from the haze and the

heat of the sun while keeping it transparent for the prevailing breeze as well as views

outdoors.

Micro climate conditions are further enhanced by the landscape elements such ascontoured lawn and swimming pool on the windward side. The house is entered through

north-west with entry marked by a cut-out in a blank wall and pronounced by a

cantilevered porch. This leads to an arrival space defined by the walls and a freestanding

ramp. Transversely placed ramp forms a barrier arresting the views into more intimate

living spaces of the house. The bottleneck created at the confluence of horizontal and


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vertical circulation, at the commencement of ramp, further marks the threshold to family

and dining areas, which extend naturally into gardens. Once the threshold is crossed, the

volume transforms vertically with floor cut-outs linking two floors, spatially as well as

visually.

Typical of bungalows of colonial era, as fallout of the served and servant phase, the

kitchen is housed outside in a detailed block of building along with servant quarters,

storage and services.

The upper floor of the house contains the sleeping areas. They are accessed by ramp, a

typical Corbusian device, offering smooth transition and gradual link. Sheltered by the

roof parasol, intermediate floors extend into terraces of different volumes for activities

spill over. It is this interplay of enclosed and semi-enclosed spaces, low and highvolumes which provide for spatial variety, visual continuity and form complexity within a

relatively simple cubical form of the container.

Spatial experience is enriched further by the graphically composed openings on two

lateral walls, modulating light and framing views. Plastered, white painted walls of rooms

above stand apart from structure and remain as an infill, honest to express the structural

concrete elements such as columns, beams and concrete fins. In keeping with tenets of

modernism the concrete surfaces are kept exposed, unplastered, offering a natural

texture of the wooden formwork – baton brut – which it manifests well under the bright

sun outdoors, while the ceiling indoors (also exposed) is relatively smooth with steel

plate formwork.

Every inch a Corbusian, with the ramp, brise soleil, brut baton, Shodhan Villa is also

proportioned in a very Corbusian modular scale. Completing the characterisation are the

bright shades of Prussian blues, vermilions, yellows and oranges of the Corbusian

palette. The dashes of these bright colours create cheerful contrast against a neutral

backdrop of exposed concrete elements. Kota stone flooring with graphically laid bands

of varying widths of stone slabs weaves the tapestry of stone. Juxtaposition of apparent

opposites such as freestanding roof over a firmly anchored built mass on ground,

sculpted voids in a cubical monolith, free forms of cut-outs in a geometrically profiled

planes, lightness of slender column countered by the monochrome masses of wall

planes, variation of volume within logic of structure, brightness of colours against the


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neutral concrete backdrop, and others render the Villa Shodhan timeless in its space

perception. Ever fresh and contemporary even after half a century of its realisation, it is

indeed poetry in space.

The original design of Villa Shodhan was commissioned to the secretary of the Millowners, Surottam

Hutheesing, in 1951. His intention was to showcase his social and economic position prior to his impending

marriage by building a house reflecting his lifestyle.[4] However, the plans were then sold to fellow millowner,Shyamubhai Shodhan. Despite his different lifestyle and an entirely new site for the project, Shodhan elected

to retain the original plans as was the case for all of Le Corbusier’s Indian projects.

The original design of Villa Shodhan was commissioned to the secretary of the Millowners, Surottam

Hutheesing, in 1951. His intention was to showcase his social and economic position prior to his impending

marriage by building a house reflecting his lifestyle.[4] However, the plans were then sold to fellow millowner,

Shyamubhai Shodhan. Despite his different lifestyle and an entirely new site for the project, Shodhan elected

to retain the original plans as was the case for all of Le Corbusier’s Indian projects.

The design of the Villa Shodhan is structurally simplistic while still retaining plasticity in the treatment of the

divided spaces. The overall frame of the building is in raw concrete, with clear markings of the wooden

formwork. The frame is anchored to the ground, not elevated on stilts, a feature Le Corbusier used frequently

in the 1920s.[8] Standard sheet metal is added to the underside of the interior ceilings and a protective

parasol is used as the roof.[9][10] The design of the interior concrete piers, running to the full height of the

building’s elevation, is based around the architect's domino skeleton design established in 1915.[11] A ramp

provides access to the main and mezzanine levels, while the rooms are grouped around a triple-height

terrace. The ramp also leads to accompanying stairs, providing access to the roof and terrace.[12] The

terrace plays an important role in the natural climate control process, cooling down the bedrooms in the

middle of the day and providing an alternate sleeping area during the summertime.[13] Upon the parasol roof

of Villa Shodhan, there is a garden abundant in thick grass and water troughs. The vision of dense greenery

is also reinforced by overrun plants and trees, seeming to camouflage the building and its environment. The

roof also features an oval aperture, which matches up with a hole in the lower slab roof, giving visitors a

framed view of the sky. This is almost mimicked by the pool, situated at the base of the ramp, aiming to bring

the outside in.[14]

The plan of Villa Shodhan recalls the ingenuity of the Villa Savoye, placed in a tropical setting.[25] It has also

been stated that Villa Shodhan is the finest reinterpretation of the idea behind Maison Citrohan.[26]

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This Villa Has a Story