Wrapped Volumes: A Harmonious Blend of Architecture and Landscape

Designers Boney Keriwala and Alak Parmar create an innovative sales office with a unique geometric form.

The design's unique properties lie in its ability to translate the movement of the road into a dynamic geometry. The building appears to lift itself from the ground, wrapping its spaces into a continuous facade. This wrap serves multiple purposes: it forms a landscape layer in some parts and a protective skin in others, reducing heat gain from the south. The result is a series of vibrant spaces where light and shadow play equally important roles in intensifying the geometry.

The building is a composite structure with partial metal columns and insulated corrugated sheet roofing, supported by a partial R.C.C frame structure. Tinted glass glazing enhances the floating mass levitated through metal columns, while the facade is ribbed plaster manually crafted by local craftsmen. The flooring is cement texture finished vitrified tiles, with Kota Stone in the landscape zone and paving blocks in the outdoor pathways and parking zone.

The design process was not without its challenges. The complex geometric form was difficult for local masons to understand and construct. To overcome this, the designers mapped the points on-site by erecting poles and tying a string to achieve the form. Additionally, the facade's ribbed plaster posed a challenge as plaster tends to fall off if hit hard. The designers recreated the ratio of cement to sand until the plaster firmly adhered to the wall, creating a series of samples with different sizes and proportions as part of their research.

Wrapped Volumes is not just an architectural marvel, but also a testament to the designers' commitment to sustainability and local craftsmanship. The design was awarded Silver in A' Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award in 2020, a testament to its outstanding expertise and innovation. The award recognizes top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that showcase a remarkable level of excellence and introduce positive feelings, amazement, and wonder.

Located on the outskirts of an industrial city, Wrapped Volumes serves as a sales pavilion for a developer's residential project. Without any evident immediate context, the pavilion takes its cues from the connecting road. The designers transformed this progressive movement of the road along with the site into a harmonious wrapped geometry, resulting in a structure that elevates itself from the ground. Some parts of this wrap form a landscape layer and other protective skin on the south, weaving the landscape and structure and engaging an individual to transcend from exterior to interior spaces.