The Client belonged to Sindhi Community who migrated from Sindh Province in Pakistan to India during Post Independence in 1948. The refuges who migrated were resettled in various places across the country, and one of such settlement is located in north-east of city of Ahmedabad. Government of Gujarat allotted land to migrants based on the family size, a lot of 10’ X 50’ known as “pasa”. Each family head got this parcel based on the no. of family members. And client’s grandfather got 30’X50’ as there were 17 family members then.
Resettlement and beginning of a new life, the client’s grandfather and father started cloth business in Ahmedabad. The middle class family was very conservative, custom based, introversive and narrow minded. After the grand fathers and father’s death in 1955 and 1997 respectively, the town sons (clients) were the owner on the plot. Each bother had 3 kids, so a family of 10 people resided in the old house of just 800 sq ft.
The family is a normal Indian family, which lived jointly sharing all the resources yet the wives wanted to live independently in a nuclear house against the husbands wish. The clients approached with a unique issue of a divided house yet a single entity. To have a house which looks one to the world yet is separate enough for their wives to feel their own personal space. The wives urged to divide the plot into two equal halves, so that they can built the house independently. Foreseeing an appeal of selling the half and moving from there, the brothers didn’t wanted to live separately and asked to come up with a solution where, both the houses can have separate entries, services, water, electricity, sewage, everything separate like an apartment yet one cannot sell the unit.
Moreover the two mature brothers decided to have every square inch area of the one house same to the other so that there are no comparison conflicts later, and both the houses should have same facilities and spaces. The modern kids wanted individual private spaces and the fathers also thought of the future requirement so decided to have 3 bedrooms for each family, a separate kitchen, dining, living, toilets and utilities. The approximate area they wanted to built was around 2500 sq ft with tentative budget of Rs.20 lac only. The brothers wanted a new house with old memories, traditional and unity to survive with a separate house internally.
A nuclear yet a joint family house…
Status: Built
Location: Ahmedabad, IN
My Role: Architect
Additional Credits: Nidhi Parikh