Silver Winner 2022 – Assetz Soul & Soil - Architecture Collection
Silver Winner of the Architecture & Design Collection Awards 2022

Assetz Soul & Soil

Architecture
Residential Architecture Built
Professional Category

Architect / Designer:

Raghavendra U Hegde

Studio:

Urban Frame

Design Team:

Rohan Karve

Country:

India
The project aims to materialize the idea of a home with a Soul, on Soil. The entire development creates a unique residential environment that offers exemplary elegance through design. At a macro level, the independent homes are stacked together to form an inquisitive, inclusive, and interactive community. At a micro level, the row house gives the end user a feel of privacy in a high-density community. It’s designed for a globally well-travelled Indian, the project is an exquisitely designed series of independent row houses. Contemporary and modern in form and feel, the design is intentionally so as to give the customer, a feel -in form and spatial experience-of a villa, while giving them the social and economic benefit of a higher density living. Therefore, the Individual Dwelling Units, have to have the special configuration and feel of a ‘compact villa, with each unit having access to a certain amount of garden space, on the Ground floor and Terrace. Clean lines, well placed and organised internal spaces bring in the modern feel to the house. Large openings with clear glass windows, bedrooms with ‘walk-in-wardrobes’ and master bedroom with large western style open plan toilets, and open plan kitchens abutting the Living & Dining areas take the contemporary feel ahead. Sustainable Measures Undertaken The design intends to retain the larger green cover on mother earth, while crafting curated landscape pockets wherever possible, retaining the original ‘Soul’ of the site extent. Three large pockets of Community greens, placed equidistant from the site extent, allows ample rainwater to percolate into the ground below, replenishing the underground water table. 100% of the water on campus is reused and recycled, out of which maximum utilization is of collected rainwater. The surface water runoff is collected and reused for gardening and other secondary functions. Every unit is fitted with a solar panel for water heating and powers night lights. To cut down on heat-gain, vertical fins are used on the face of the building. The buildings are placed next to each other for mutual shading. The terrace floor is finished with terracotta tiles to cut down on heat absorption. New-age Technologies Adopted Villas at Soul and soil are fully automated smart homes, with remote access to the main door, lighting, water heaters, air conditioners. For easy upkeep and maintenance of the landscape, automated sprinkler systems have been installed. At a master plan level, all street lighting, lighting for common amenities like clubhouse and security cabins are all powered by solar energy primarily. Soul and Soil is also a host and an active provider for electrical charging stations to keep up with the changing automotive scenario. Innovative Materials Used Conventionally, Aluminium shuttering is used to construct vertical and high-density projects. Soul and Soil is the first of its kind to use the available technology to construct horizontal modules. Doing so, allowed each unit to be constructed within 21 days, saving man hours, reducing and optimizing the construction timelines.

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