Ras Houses | 2018- 2020

Ras, Rajasthan, India

Architects: Sanjay Puri Architects
Design Team: Toral Doshi, Kintan Shah, and Shivani Awasthi
Client: Shree Cement Ltd.
Photographers: Dinesh Mehta

A series of low-rise volumes amidst open courtyards and landscaped gardens create 61 executive guest houses, 47 hostels for accommodation, and 18 studio apartments. Located in Ras, Rajasthan in India, the planning of the internal spaces responds to the desert climate of the location.

Deeply recessed windows, open and sheltered courtyards, naturally ventilated circulation spaces, and cross-ventilated living spaces contribute towards reduced heat gain and naturally cooled interiors.

Each part of this housing development is planned at the existing levels of a contoured site with contour differences of 3 to 8 meters, resulting in economy of construction, minimal cutting ad filling of soil, and a resultant height variation that creates character.

The organic layout of the housing is derived from old Indian cities with constantly varying scales and changing of the axis to create individuality for each part of the housing.

The minimal intervention with the contoured site, low rise planning, facilitation of natural light and ventilation, reduction of heat gain, water recycling and rainwater harvesting, use of local labor, fly ash bricks and use of residual energy from a nearby cement plant render this project economical and sustainable. The total area of 204,719 sq ft was built within INR 1,300 per sq ft (18 USD per sq ft).

Color acts as an integral parameter in differentiating volumes as well as identifying circulation spaces interestingly while alluding to the colors of the region. In Rajasthan color plays an important role in the lives of the people who wear bright colors daily.

Most cities in Rajasthan state are identified by color. Jodhpur in Rajasthan is known as the blue city with traditional homes in hues of blue lime plaster. Jaisalmer is known as the yellow city for its traditional houses being built in yellow sandstone.

The deconstructed cubes sport varied hues of the sandy region, at different times of the day — visually differentiating the stepped, recessed volumes as well as identifying circulation spaces. With lighter hues on external walls to reflect heat off the surfaces, and darker tones indoors to create a cooler feel, they add impact to the highly “responsive” design solution.

The composition of rectilinear volumes is rendered in bright colors derived from the traditional Rajasthan color palette adding to the contextual response of the design to its location. The design is responsive to the desert climate and the culture of Rajasthan in addition to being site-specific and imbibing the old Indian city’s organic character.