The Cube House

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THE CUBE HOUSE - MODI SRIVASTAVA & ASSOCIATES
THE CUBE HOUSE

VADODARA, GUJARAT
Plot Area: 1,632 sq ft

Built Up Area: 3,273 sq ft
Project Timeline: 2016 – 2019
Project Cost: INR 3,000 per sq ft
MODI SRIVASTAVA & ASSOCIATES, VADODARA

Principal Architects: Hitesh Modi, Amit Srivastava
Project Team: Nadia Unia, Rinkal Chauhan, Urvashi Maniar
© Skyboard, 2018. No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
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Evolution of design inspiration from any random object, thing,

place, natural element, or purely imagination, is an astounding
fact. And, for this residence sitting on a 1,600 sq ft plot, who
could imagine a house that would be inspired by the shipping
containers!
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Belonging to a mid-aged gynaecologist couple with a daughter, a son, and parents who
would stay with them occasionally, the requirements were quiet basic. The client’s
having been confined to small spaces earlier, wanted this home to spacious and build
a connection with nature. The site is located in a close proximity of airport zone which
presented limitations for the height of the building. The size of the plot, height restrictions
and the clients expectations of a spacious abode, came as a challenge to fit them as per
the government by-laws.
Sketch
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Wicket gate entrance

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The entrance to the house is directly from the street with a flight of stairs leading to the
upper ground floor that is 8 ft high. This little journey is made exciting by the presence
of bamboo planters and varied flora. A basement is designed to provide the car parking
facility and a small utility space.
Basement Space
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Living room entrance
Designed as an open floor plan, the upper ground floor is accommodated with the basic
facilities of living, dining, kitchen, a guest bedroom and a floating utility space. It faces
the main road, and hence the large openings illuminate the spaces. The cube of the guest
bedroom extends towards the kitchen and subtly blends it’s entry door by becoming a
part of the white T.V wall. The parents bedroom is connected to a small balcony on the
rear and has small bathroom with aqua blue tiles clad in glass to make it appear spacious.
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Views of the living room

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Dining Area
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Guest Bedroom
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Master Bedroom
The second floor becomes a completely private space which holds a master bedroom
for the doctor couple. The client couple spend most of their day’s time in small confined
space in the hospital. To bring a shift in connection of the user with space at home, a
raw and rustic finished master bedroom is designed as a large space which allows the
user to form a personal connection with the space. A beautiful balcony with a jhula
overlooking the road and a common garden, is designed in a way that it allows the user
to enjoy their morning tea in solace and spend holiday time in balcony, as they like it.
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Balcony
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Son’s Bedroom
Both the bedrooms of the daughter and the son are planned on the top floor. The son’s
bedroom shared a visual connection with the plot whereas a small terrace area was
built for the daughter’s bedroom. The sons’s bedroom follows a sports theme, with
artworks and decals installed on the white brick wall. His study was adjoining the wall
overlooking the volume and the open nature of space, the sky and the landscape. The
daughter’s bedroom reflects her energy and likes that is defined by following a free-
spirited design language, with framed inspirational quotes and words.
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Son’s study space

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Daughter’s Bedroom
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Bathroom Space
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Play of colors contrasting the concrete in the interiors
Appearing as a minimally dressed residence, the number of material used here are only
few. The visually imposing built form is defined in a combination of natural bricks and
exposed concrete. Each floor cube is composed of different materials. The upper ground
floor is fabricated as a brick cube, the first floor as a concrete cube and the top floor is
again a brick cube. This led to a well composed and completely resolved architectural
mass deriving the overall residence of the family. The balconies have been framed with
metal sheets appealing the solemn part of the cube stack overlooking the common plot.
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Artwork along the staircase wall
The furniture was made of natural hardwood, bringing the same architectural character
to the interiors. Flooring for parking, external staircase and utility is done in Kota stone,
internal flooring is done in white marble, while wood is used for the individual room
flooring. The decision to keep the internal concrete walls as they are, was done to display
its rawness.
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Punches of colors pop up across the house in form of colourful furnishings, artworks, and
home décor pieces. A collaboration had been done with the same artist who had done
paintings on the walls on site, and whose canvas paintings were used to augment the
residence. An abstract artwork runs along the staircase wall, which adds an interesting
character to the space. A staircase in blue with a yellow wall in backdrop creates the
journey to the terrace interesting.
Staircase to the terrace

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In a way, the restrictions of the due to site’s closeness to the airport, resulted in
articulating the project innovatively. The house is designed with minimal beam depths.
This added a playful character to the house and it resulted in saving space that allowed
more room for fitting the requirements. The entirety of the project was envisioned as a
shell structure of cubes stacked on top of each other along the vertical line of stacked
containers. This concept when discussed with the structural engineer, the outcome
was to design a house by stacking different volumetric RCC shells on each other and
generating a column free volumetric space with multiple connect points to the nature
and outdoors.
External view of the living room

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Parking Level Plan

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Drawing Room Level Plan

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Master Bedroom Level Plan

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Children’s Bedroom Level Plan

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Section: A-A’
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Section: B-B’
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Section: C-C’
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UNIQUE MATERIAL APPLICATIONS Wooden Flooring: Hardwood from Deco Ply

Cladding: Jai Jalaram Bricks from The Brick Security: Yale by Kamal Dave from ARK
Store, Vadodara Logix
Windows: Fenesta, Vadodara Air Conditioning: Mitsubishi from Advait
Tiles: Natural Marble Engineers
Lighting: Litomatic from Viray Electricals Marble: Australian White from A-One
Color: Asian Paints Others: Paintings from Nirali Gajjar, Wall
Sanitaryware / Bath Fittings: Grohe by Paintings from Priyanka Thaker
Pitambar Das
Furniture: On Site by Sumer Interiors Pvt. Ltd. KEY CONTRIBUTORS
Furnishing: Aavran/Khandelwal Structural: Sunil Desai
Carpets & Rugs: Aavran Civil: Nitesh P Shah
Hardware: Dorma, Hettich from Evershine Façade: Modi Srivastava & Associates
Enterprise Landscape: Twinkle Shah
Modular Kitchen: Hafele from Evershine MEP: Hemeshbhai
Enterprise HVAC: Dharmeshbhai
Kitchen Sink: Hafele from K.D. Sons Acoustics: The Brick Store
Ply / Veneer: Greenply from Sumer Interiors
Pvt. Ltd. PHOTOGRAPHER
Mosaic: Picollo from Siddhi Trading Tejas Shah
© Skyboard, 2018. No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

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THE CUBE HOUSE - MODI SRIVASTAVA & ASSOCIATES

THE CUBE HOUSE

Plot Area: 1,632 sq ft

MODI SRIVASTAVA & ASSOCIATES, VADODARA

Evolution of design inspiration from any random object, thing,

Wicket gate entrance

Living room entrance

Views of the living room

Son’s study space

Play of colors contrasting the concrete in the interiors

Artwork along the staircase wall

Staircase to the terrace

External view of the living room

Parking Level Plan

Drawing Room Level Plan

Master Bedroom Level Plan

Children’s Bedroom Level Plan

UNIQUE MATERIAL APPLICATIONS Wooden Flooring: Hardwood from Deco Ply

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