Stapl | Projects

Meraki Life Kunegaon, Lonavala
- Typology Interior Residential, Architecture Residential, Master Planning
- Plot Area 43,887.222 SQ. MTS.
- Built Area 15,692.909 SQ. MTS.
- Levels G+1 Structure , 29 Villas & Club House
- Status Ongoing
- Design & Construction 2016 - Ongoing
- Developer Greenspace Group
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
The project has 33 residential villas of the following areas:
- 650 SO.MT= 14 villas 700 SO.MT = 2 Villas
- 750 SO.MT= 7 Villas 1000 SO.MT= 4 Villas
- Every villas has a Basement (multipurpose hall), Living room, Kitchen & Dinning,
Family Room and Bed Rooms

The site is located in Kunegoan, Lonavala. Lonavala being a hill station and having a close proximity to both Pune and Mumbai city, has attracted a lot of people to build or buy weekend/second homes. The site is approximately 10.5 acres in area and has a shape of two intersecting rectangles. The entrance is towards the west and is the lowest part of site. As we enter the site the contours on the site rise upwards towards the east, the backdrop of which is the hill The level difference between the entry to the west and the hills towards the east is approximately 28 meters. Towards the south is located Della adventure park and towards the north is barren land.
The brief was to build a gated weekend retreat. The masterplan that was generated was done with a clear intention to negotiate the contours with a ring road and to centrally locate the common green spaces. All the villa subplots were thus automatically pushed to the periphery of the site. The connecting internal road now traversed between the central green and the frontage of the individual villas. This ensured, each villa a view of the central green space.

The central green space was largely contoured. Within it was developed a walking trail that was densely planted on either side, to ensure that people using the trail would be obscured from the villas outside and vice versa. Within the landscape is also located a small flattened lawn area for multipurpose activities. Toward the upper end of the green area where the contours were steepest is located the clubhouse.
Due to the steep slopes the clubhouse naturally sinks into the landscape giving way to a mound of grass on its roof top, making it an earth sheltered built form. The intention clearly was to make unfettered landscape, to become the focus, rather than the built form. The concrete finish clubhouse building is planned such that the restaurant overlooks both the internal courtyard that houses the lotus pool with the waterfall and the main swimming pool towards the outside. The main swimming pool further steps down the contours in the form of a waterfall, to form the children's pool. Extensive landscape on the clubhouse building and the area surrounding the pool ensure that people using the facility feel encompassed by nature.
The villa plots are located on the ring road that run along the outside of the central green. Villas are of varying sizes based on individual plot sizes. Each villa was a four bedroom villa provided with its private pool. The planning of the individual villas was done with a specific intent The plan was to make every villa unidirectional, the living, dining and all the four bedrooms, were oriented to face the front of the plot that abutted the road. Other areas such as the kitchen, the servant quarters and the family room on the first floor faced the rear of the plot. Other activities such as the den and the home theatre were located in the basement. The villa itself was located towards the rear end of the plot increasing the front open space. The living, dining and one of the bedrooms on the ground floor open up on to this front open space. The three bedrooms on the first floor have a large cantilevered balcony that overlooks this front open space. The cantilevered balcony provides for a covered patio for the living, dining and bedroom below. Large slim line windows on the lower and the upper floors provide unrestricted views of the landscape and private pool within the plot and the central green space beyond. The focus throughout the project was on the landscape, the attempt was to unbuild rather than build and to closely integrate architecture into an existing natural surrounds.
Villa 19 was the first of the villas to be built on the site. It was a result of a series of soul-searching debates and discussions about whether to obscure the built-form rather than mount it on a pedestal as a landmark.
The plot is a largish rectangle (almost ½ acre) wherein you enter the villa from the longer side, at the corner.

The entry is from a lower contour thereby slowly unveiling details and spaces within the villa. A waterfall on the right aligns itself to the garden entry while the straight inclined pathway leads to a double height sky-lit lobby.
Through it one is drawn into the large living room with huge windows on two adjacent sides that practically blurs the margins between the interior space; the outdoor pool deck and garden area.

The furniture is arranged to maximise the view of the outside; making it impossible to forget where we are. Moving inwards leads to the open kitchen that overlooks into a kitchen garden at the east and the hill beyond. It is designed as the core of the house connecting to the staircase, the lift, the servant entry, the guest bedroom and the common washroom. The house is spread over 3-storeys - a basement by virtue of the contour; ground level that houses the living, kitchen, one bedroom and the first floor that houses 3 bedrooms & the family room that overlooks the entrance lobby. All the 4 bedrooms overlook the poolside garden. Large span windows allow west views of the surrounding from the first floor.
Taking cues from the rugged landscape around, the cladding inside the villa is primarily in various local stone. For instance, the staircase and guest bedroom on the ground floor are clad in horizontal stacks of slate stone. This cladding is visualized as a monolithic element and extends into the exterior of the villa.

The woodwork collectively ties the house together through the wooden staircase and flooring; the wooden ceiling, paneling and the fins. The cladding in the master bedroom is in semi-dressed basalt stone neatly fitted in with the woodwork. The decor is visualized as a holistic material palette built into the house integrated to form a complete idea.

The garden forms the larger half of the villa with a fruit garden, a barbeque pit with seating, open lawns and a private pool. A waterfall from the edge of the pool along the staircase that takes you down to the entry point again. Wooden deck and the pool side here connect you to the private garden. External cladding is done using slatted natural stone blending with the mountain backdrop. The natural rock excavated from site has been reused as a construction material and a landscape feature; likewise the existing mango trees have been built around; retaining the natural elements existing on site.
Optimizing the contour of the land, the clubhouse is located on the slope towards the centre. This is also along the sightlines of the plot. Using the theory of cut and fill to balance the impact of building and trying to retain the natural topography of land by terracing. Given these contours; the entry level of the clubhouse has a sunken pool while the roof of the clubhouse is covered by a landscaped lawn that meets the internal road above. A scooped out courtyard with a naturally forming waterfall become the central focal point of the form finish clubhouse.