This week was all about designing my childhood home. The design was restricted to be three metre high from ground level at max and six metres below the ground level. Out of the total volume of the pit, 50 percent of the pit volume had to be kept open or unbuilt.

My base idea was to stake the three levels as per occupancies. Like the top most floor for the guests and visitors, the middle level floor for dining and parents and the bottom most floor for myself and for my family to gather. The site being in Hazira, very close to Surat has a warm and humid climate. The location also has Tapi river on one edge and Arabic sea on the opposite edge. This made the atmosphere pleasing with natural breeze. I wanted to bring in the nice breeze, so I tried to give as many openings as possible. Courtyards could enhance the view from openings.

Being inside a pit, bringing in light and ventilation is also a major concern. Introducing different courtyards helped my design to some extent. As seen in the diagram below, one can get the idea about how the courtyards are placed in the pit.

My initial idea of childhood was of having a box inside a box. This came from childhood concern about me thinking of the parents’ room being the largest one in the home, not this was not the only case in my home, but I observed this in my friends home too. But while designing on this idea, I came to realise that this configuration of having my space on the lowermost level as the largest space came out to be very dominant and left out. No interaction with other family members. So later on I tried to manipulate the design as that it comes more interactive within the spaces, as we were only three person in my family.