Text & Photos by: Architect Anjum Pervez
Design: Environ Envision
Design Team: Anjum Pervez – Principal Architect, Shamyl Qureshi – Project Architect,
Farhan Ahmad – Detailing
An architect comes across a variety of programs and demands that he has to cater to. The client is more often than not, someone who has no technical background and no understanding of architecture, aesthetics, or building practices and products.
All they have is dreams, whims and fancies, fragmented thoughts, and a collection of Pinterest pictures.
As an architect, you have to sift through all that, keep what is useful or even remotely practical and discard the rest.
And if you are designing a house for a speculative developer, the job becomes twice as complicated. Now you are the client and the architect all in one.
The developer has come to you with a clean slate, a list of physical requirements, and an approximate covered area calculation, or at the vaguest design intent based on the architectural style, he has in mind.
From there on it is all up to you and if the developer is open to suggestions and is willing to give you full control of the design, the project becomes fun. You are free to imagine and create whatever your little heart desires.
This house in phase six is an example of that. A deep, narrow plot with a long right side flanked by a neighbor’s generous garden, the decision of orientation was easy. So the house is exposed on the right-hand side and opens up onto space of its own abutting the adjoining garden.
The design program was typical 6 bedrooms, two lounges, living spaces, and all the allied facilities of such houses that are speculatively built all over DHA.
However, magic was created in the style. My initial thought was to design something that would be contextual in the sense that it did justice to the site and took advantage of the open right-hand side. I intended to design a house where, upon entering it you would be transported to another place, a house that did not typically belong in Karachi.
Over the years, I have had a chance to design dozens of residential units for friends, clients, and developers in all shapes and sizes and various architectural styles. And although I have designed modern structures with high ceilings, minimalist finishes, sterile interiors, and straight lines, my architectural preference has remained a warm, cozy, and intimate space with rustic, lived-in, interiors.
Now usually if you were designing on a property in the wilderness or a little out of town in a natural setting you have some context and references to help you determine the orientation and style.
In DHA all we get is a site plan with a North Arrow and the direction of the wind, which is a bit suspect anyway. Because of the tight grid plan you can do very little with that. As a result, you purely have to depend on your imagination and inspiration to come up with the aesthetics. That, as I have explained earlier was the design intent. To transport you out of the city once you have entered the property.
With bold, natural, textural building finishes the architectural style (for lack of a better option) can at best be described as ‘Modern Mountain’.
The term comes from the Adirondack Mountains in New York State where wealthy city dwellers could retreat from the crowded cities to “Great Camps” that were being developed in the rugged outdoors during the Industrial revolution. The lodges were both lavish and rustic at the same time. Adirondack rustic became a regional style that is still popular today.
Translating that style into your house means the use of natural materials such as stone, wood, textured surfaces, and earthy finishes. One of the most notable features of this style of architecture is its connection with the outdoors and a strong bond between inside spaces and outdoor areas.
This connection has been made at all levels of the house from the walk-out doors on the basement to the lofty, flying, wooden decks connecting to the pool area at every level.
From the moment you enter the slightly ornate but sturdy-looking main gate, you are transported to someplace else. The rugged stone staircase leading to the lower levels takes you to the pool deck from where you can appreciate the entire side façade finished in stone with traditional sash windows.
The interior of the house is fairly modern but still intimate and warm. The powder room is almost a metal sculpture. The inside of the house is bathed in daylight but still protected on the south and west side from the harsh summer sun.
The room sizes are comfortable but not oversize. The master bedroom suite looks onto the front garden and has an elaborate walk-in closet and a bathroom. You leave the property wondering where have you just been.
