Philosophy
Boathouse was born out of desire to provide sustainable solutions for day to day activities for everyone. We are architects, environmentalists, interior designers, artists and our aim is to make the planet a better place to live in. Our keywords are learning new things, networking, self-reliance, sustainability, using as much bespoke methodology and practice as possible, use as little energy as possible, make with hands, conserve water, conserve our planets resources.
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We believe in using industrial and construction waste material and recycling it in the new giving it a new avatar. We also believe in customization and bringing back the heritage, hence in our designs, we promote crafts which are fast losing its value in today’s fast moving world.
We also encourage hydroponics and other systems of growing vegetables organically so that everyone can have a healthy life, without contamination of chemicals.
Our aim is happy and healthy planet!
Our Team
Poonam Jolly
Founder
Falguni Desai
Friend Philosopher and Guide
Amitabh Teaotia
Mentor & Landscape Advisor
Nivedita Gulati
Critic- always showing the mirror
Sanjay Rabari
Architect- most forgetful and most sincere
Ramsingh
Manager
Madan
Mason
Mansukh Aghera
Plumber
Harsh Patel
Waterproofing Expert
The Boathouse Story
Project: Art center and Residency
Built up: 300 sqmts
Materials: Concrete, Wood, Aluminium, Stainless steel, Pewter, Terrazzo, Oxide floor.
Necessity is the mother of all invention. To attempt to build without having much resources in itself drives an architect to think beyond the box and eke out methods by means of which everything streamlines into an efficient system, where every material is selected ONLY because it is sustainable, inexpensive and the potential of every material is exploited to its breaking point.
Placed in a very green serene zone on the outskirts of the city, it was imperative that design reacted to the surroundings. When the construction work began, a few hedge hogs, snakes and nilgais used to frequent the site. Clearly, we had snatched their homes. This guilt made a deep impact not only in this design but also in our minds. Nature, plants animals must be made to feel at home in built environment.
The first move therefore was not to disturb the natural slope which was 1200 mm from front to end in this 31 x 17 metre plot.
Instead of filling earth, which was expensive, a basement was created at -1200 level thus nullifying need to do any filling at all.
Second, the basement was planned to be less than the upper floors so as to have more garden. A conscious decision was taken to leave the ground as is. No paving except where there was going to be continuous movement.
In order to recede the lower floor inwards, the upper floors had to be cantilevered, thus concrete as a material was selected. LESS MATTER. Further reduction in material was sought by deviously cantilevering the slab…meters. Since the slab was concrete, the walls too followed and a shear wall system came up.
Next level of optimization was sought by diving the functions into two clear zones. Living and services. A separate services block was created consisting toilets and kitchen. Plumbing in one line. Optimization. Now there were two blocks, the in between space was a courtyard that communicated, horizontally and vertically- physically, visually and sensually. The courtyard is a place to travel within building, it is also place where complete transparency is observed.
Coming back to nature, all roofs are green. Some have earth, some water and some only plants. This again was economically viable since the temperature is cut down heavily. In Ahmedabad it is summer almost throughout the year. In May the temperature goes up to 44 degrees C.