Situated in the arid desert region of Nokha in Rajasthan, India, the Narsighar house imbibes the traditional planning principles of the regional architecture prevalent for centuries in Rajasthan.
Most of the houses and palaces built in this region for centuries had courtyards for passive cooling, thick stone walls to combat the excessive heat and stone “jali” screens to mitigate heat gain.
The Narsighar house is punctuated with a series of courtyards and built from sandstone available in its immediate vicinity. Each of the living spaces opens into sheltered outdoor spaces screened with perforated stone panels. In addition to reducing heat gain, these screens also protect the inner spaces from the sandstorms prevalent in the region.
The home, based on the clients’ needs to accommodate 4 generations, has 9 bedrooms with multifunctional living spaces, sheltered courtyards and patios all around.
In addition to the traditional planning principles, elements of traditional Rajasthan architecture, including multifoil arched windows, patterned stone screens, stone pergolas, inlay and carving work, accentuate the spaces. Rajasthan in India is home to many craftsmen in crafts such as stone carving, marble inlay, carpentry work, mirror work inlay, lime plaster, and more. The construction of the entire house was executed and worked upon by these local craftsmen, reviving thus many traditional techniques.
Although the house appears large, over 40% of its area consists of open courtyards, circulation spaces and sheltered outdoor patios. Each volume is articulated individually, with the home being perceived as a composition of varying volumes.
A car porch at the entrance opens into a sunlit courtyard that leads to a sheltered stone arcade flanked by water troughs and gardens made for passive cooling before the house’s entrance. The skylit entrance lobby within the house is flanked by a living room and an open seating area leading into a large central courtyard.
The main courtyard of the house is naturally ventilated through clear story windows, with the circulation skirting its perimeter. Sectionally, there is a flow of different volumes within. Most of the rooms are 4 meters high, with the main living room being 6.5 meters high, the central courtyard 12 meters high, the north and south courtyards 8 meters high and the outdoor patios 3.6 meters high. Every living space and bedroom in the house opens into sheltered outdoor spaces creating transitional volumes between its interior and exterior in order to mitigate heat gain.
Indirect sunlight permeates all the spaces filtered through arches or stone screens creating different shadow patterns throughout the day.
This house was designed with traditional principles and materials for passive cooling with contract labor from the nearby villages, stone from its vicinity, craftsmen from the region, and locally-sourced materials. The marble, stone, wood, lime plaster, and furniture are all procured from Rajasthan.
Designed contextually to the climate, location, and heritage of the region, Narsighar revives the Indian traditional planning principles and traditional crafts, creating an energy efficient home for future generations built to last for centuries.
