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This 85-year-old Ahmedabad home offers a delightful refuge to a family of five

Jul 10, 2017 - By Tora Agarwala

For Balkrishna Doshi, modern city planners and designers of skyscrapers who try to provide all a person needs have got it wrong: architects must learn that a building is a living organism and allowing it to evolve naturally will create cities that thrive.

Featured here: The teak shelves are filled with papier maÌ‚cheÌ objects; the ‘Rohida’ container (below right) from Anantaya is on an old mortar; the wall below the staircase has paintings by architect Balkrishna Doshi’s daughter, Maneesha; the tree of life patchwork on the right is by Kutch artisans.

The annex is an excellent place of refuge. Often hidden from the casual visitor, it has always projected a sense of comfort for its inhabitants—and wonder for those on the outside. It was in an annex that Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis, concealed behind a bookshelf. Conversely, it is in a rather futuristic annex where Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.

But in a world far removed from Gotham City, in a quiet tree-lined lane in Ahmedabad, a small passage connects an 85-year-old house to its newly built annex. And much like the annexes we encounter in popular culture or in our personal lives, this one too, for its inhabitants, serves the same purpose: refuge and privacy.

Source: https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/85-year-old-ahmedabad-home-offers-delightful-refuge-family-five/