Beautifully twisted, casa de unique

TENKASI: It would not be a hyperbole to state that a residential home designed by a son-of-the-soil architect is now among the ‘must-visit’ places in Tenkasi.

When images of this unique house went viral on social media, predictably, the response was a mixed bag of surprise and sneer. “But, why?” asked some. “Because we can,” said NJ Zubair Nainar, principal architect of the design.

He received a simple brief from the homeowner, Shahul Hameed: ‘A wow factor. Everyone should stop and have a look while crossing my home’. Zubair stuck to the brief and delivered.

“Even our firm’s name, Jamaliah Arkitekts, is unconventional. A simple change in spelling, and minimal in our theme,” Zubair told DT Next from his office in Welcome Nagar.

The project, which has brought his Tenkasi-based firm laurels, is also located a few metres from Zubair’s office. The unconventional-looking house set amid the backdrop of green hills and windmills is attention-grabbing, to say the least.

Shahul is in the construction business in a Gulf country and the home-interiors he saw there inspired him. The challenge, however, was cost. He wanted it to be as economical as possible.

“You can either get cheap and best or different. Cheap and different is quite a challenge. But, we were up for it,” recalled Zubair, pointing out that only the facade of the house has structural audacity. “The other three sides have no work. In fact, we used only white primer as paint for the three sides.”

The initial discussions began as early as 2018, and the planning itself took a year. Zubair took advantage of the COVID-induced lockdown.

“The inspiration was always there,” he said, “This is what we were encouraged to do in architecture school. In a class of 80 students, each will be asked to design a house in an empty space. All of us have different passions and inspirations and that will reflect in their design.”

For the Tenkasi home, Zubair adopted Deconstructivism – a post-modern architectural style that encourages breaking the rules and norms of conventional designs. There are several notable public buildings across the world designed in this style, notably the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Go ahead and google deconstructivism buildings. You won’t regret it!

“Over the years, architecture has evolved with different periods. Like how specific body parts have specialised doctors, each architect has different preference. I’m inclined towards this style and it was a blessing that the client also believed in us,” Zubair stated.

As a tribute to his influences, Zubair had the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, embossed on the gate of the house. Designed by architect Zaha Hadid, the fluid structure of the building is a thing of marvel. The other gate has US architect, FL Wright’s Solomon R Guggenheim museum embossed on it.

“Even the construction style we adopted for the house was different. We used the rat trap method to lay bricks, which saves material. Say 100 bricks is needed for a wall, in this method, it will take only 75 bricks. There is less awareness about this style,” Zubair said.

Over the course of construction, even workers became involved in design discussions and would offer suggestions on how to execute the project.

Though the facade looks ‘twisted’ for the larger public who are used to conventional designs, the interiors are similar to any other house, he pointed out. “In the interiors too, we stuck to a minimal theme. We set a floating staircase and used mostly white paint,” added Zubair.

As the house started garnering attention, Zubair’s firm received a lot of enquiries to emulate similar structures, but the team is not keen on repeating the same design. However, they would like to apply deconstructivism to commercial buildings as well.

“The scale is big and the scope for experimenting with design is huge,” Zubair opined, and referred to the Mumbai-based firm, Sanjay Puri Architects, known for their unconventional designs for commercial buildings. In Ranchi, there’s a residential tower that looks like a building block toy-set assembled by a child.

“Historically, architecture used to be defined by the topography of the region. Now, all buildings are made of glass and concrete and look the same across regions. The buildings seem to have no story behind them,” rued Zubair.

On the ramp leading to the house, Zubair had stencilled the quote by Architect Philip Johnson, ‘Architecture is the art of how to waste space’. Admitting that he might be guilty of the same, he kept it as a reminder for one of his projects.

After Kutralam Falls and temples, This house is a must-see for tourists. So, what do they refer to it as? “Oh, the public here has several names for it. The one I hear the most is odanja veedu (broken house),” Zubair laughed.