Nagzar - a house in the woods, Malvan, Maharashtra

‘Nazgar’ is a 150-year-old family home sitting along the slopes of a hill in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. The site is in between a family-owned teak and mango plantation. The paved road terminates way before the property limits, and one has too offroad for a few kilometres, meandering in between the soaring teak trees and the crowning mango trees. Under the foliage lie a number of pathways that lead to through the lay of the land, to the through a few seasonal streams and small waterfalls, or following the call of a visiting bird. 

Built 150 years ago using locally quarried laterite blocks called chira for walls, timber-framed roof and clay tiles. With the family moving out to work in the cities and nearby towns, the house fell in a state of disrepair. Over the years the displaced clay tiles allowed the building to be exposed to the elements of nature. 

Owing to the sentiments associated with the house, the current family considered rebuilding it on the same footprint and using the materials that could be salvaged from the old house. The design is thus guided by the footprint of the earlier building, while being environmentally and culturally sensitive to the surroundings and landscape around, adhering to the needs and comforts of the current century.  

Space is designed in a way to flow seamlessly from the outdoors to the indoors and vice versa. Natural light and ventilation fill up the house throughout the seasons. Taking back from the verandah that circumambulates the main bedroom of the house. Salvaged chira blocks and timber used through the structure is sourced from the plantation around.

Nzgar is planned to be a family home for the coming generations, providing a place for the kids to swing under the trees, a kitchen for the grandmother of the house to make her family famous Zunka (chickpea flour porridge) bhakri with a portion of thecha (a spicy condiment made with chillies and garlic), as the elders discuss what they should do with this year’s mango harvest.

The spaces arranged along the periphery walls define and support the structure of the house. Different heights are created to suit the different functions and dimensions of the interior spaces of the home. The sentiments attached to the land provides a sense of connection and belonging.