Tuli Residence, Nagpur

This bungalow design was drawn up for a well-known Sikh family in Nagpur, having prosperous ventures in the transport, hospitality and entertainment industry. The client’s brief was a house large enough to accommodate his huge family and its requirements, especially when they would get together during holidays.

The site is a large plot divisible into four sub-plots, for four brothers. A common road leading from the main road serves as entrance to all the four plots. The bungalow plot also abuts a lane and another major road on two sides.

Kalayojan Architects created a piece of modern architecture out of this residence design, aiming to make the client’s home a statement of his prosperity and status.

The bungalow has three floors; the ground floor houses the living room, dining room, kitchen, servant’s room, garage and the bedroom for the head of the family. The main entrance is marked by a foyer, attached with a small office for conducting business at home, from which one can go to the living room or climb up to the dining room, kitchen and bedroom on an upper level.

The dining and living rooms are enclosed by a two floor high glass curtain wall to afford a beautiful view of the landscaped lawns and allow the living spaces to ‘flow’ onto the lawns. To protect the massive glass curtain wall from the extreme climate in Nagpur, a pergola with deep beams has been used as a canopy above. Both the areas also have sit-outs onto which one can step out. The client’s wish to have a visual connectivity to the whole house was further fulfilled by introducing an atrium in the centre of the house layout, with a capsule lift in it to access the upper floors of the bungalow.

The first floor has the bedrooms, a family lounge and a prayer room, large enough to accommodate the whole family. Since the client did not want any room over the area where the ‘Guru Granth Saheb’ would be kept, a portion of the room projects out in the form of an arch in which the religious text has been housed. On the outside the projecting arch forms an interesting canopy characterizing the main entrance.

The elevation of the bungalow is flamboyant in expression, yet sleek and contemporary in style. The solid, granite, obelisk-like column, supporting the pergola is symbolic of the client’s social status in Nagpur.