Parikrama House / SPASM Design Architects

Approached by a friend who represents a Minimal-window producer from Portugal, called PANORAMAH, we were given the task of developing a sort of case study home, in the Murud region amidst a coconut grove. The windows being super high-tech and modern in their presence were meant to disappear against the verdant view.

The plan evolved like a two headed worm, with the sleeping spaces in series and the higher main living and dining spaces flanking opposite ends of the series. The idea being, the tracing of a PARIKRAMA, a circum-ambulatory path, while moving from spaces, always in contact with the outside.

The entire construction was planned in TILT- UP STONE slabs, hence allowing the minimal windows into cavity walls, Granite 40 millimeters. Thick was the material of choice. STONE, has a sense of time built into it, like the GRANDFATHER of building materials. It is also a highly sustainable material to build with due to the least number of processes on it, from quarry to site.

Conceived as a super modern yet ancient vessel this construct, is a simple assemblage of giant panels of glass against huge Stone slabs. A Primitive sense of dwelling pervades, as the day turns into a starry night sky and the light pours out of the glass making the stone invisible, A REVERSAL of what one perceives in the day…. Once all else decays the Stones will still stand…..