Villa Vernacular – Kerala – Leisure is better when contextual

Villa Vernacular – Kerala – Leisure is better when contextual

PREMISE
Our perception of leisure travel is changing in many ways due to many reasons lately. A trend shift where people now avoid crowded destinations against more peaceful solitude like places is not a surprise. Call it a pandemic risk or general change in mindset natural getaways and mostly countryside are gaining popularity the world over.
But the real game-changer in this shift is almost negligible commute for most office going population and this will continue with coming generations. While the usual hustle was to squeeze in a holiday at a weekend now working from anywhere has opened a possibility to live within a vacation Instead of short What does this mean for the leisure industry? What possibilities does this liberated work-home relationship hold for dense cities that require no commute?

BRIEF
Villa Vernacular is a design challenge focused on building a motion towards responsible leisure properties across the world. It is an idea that looks towards equalizing the balance between rural identities and urban demands. The ability to pay does give access to every construction technology at hand, but the challenge wants to normalize the fact that living in rural areas should be a healthy exchange instead of closed compound construction and living like the city.
The design brief is to develop a villa for a family of 4, who have switched to work from home completely and look to live in the countryside for half the year. The client profile can be defined by the participants followed by which design process can begin considering a vernacular approach for the entire building scheme.

OBJECTIVES
The Client: Build a detailed client profile that covers description, choices, hobbies, and backgrounds.
Place: Understand the context, the place, cultures, values, community from in relevant dimensions you wish to weave the design in.
Spaces: Identity and craft spaces for the client and your understanding of the place.
Knit: Develop the spaces and construction in relevance to the context the building belongs in.

SITE – ALAPPUZHA
Alappuzha also was known by its former name Alleppey, is the administrative headquarters of Alappuzha District in the Indian State of Kerala. Alappuzha is a city and a municipality in Kerala with an urban population of 174,164 and ranks third among the districts in literacy rate in the State of Kerala.
Alappuzha is considered to be the oldest planned city in this region and the lighthouse built on the coast of the city is the first of its kind along the Laccadive Sea coast. The site is within the region known as the backwaters of Kerala. The site is surrounded by farms and a network of rivers with scenic views.

Coordinates: 9°26’24.2″N 76°22’42.7″E (https://goo.gl/maps/u2NtLuWkSYpfiogg8)
Area: ~2500sqm
Height limit: G+2 = Max floor height 4m/per floor.
FAR (Floor Area Ratio): 0.5
No Basement Construction Allowed / No Setbacks

JUDGING CRITERIA & JUDGES
The entries will be judged by an international jury of the competition on the following criteria:
Presentation: The fundamental to a good entry is a visual delivery of ideas.
Concept/Idea: Quality of thought and intent in the pre-design phase.
Spaces/Program: How the spaces are calculated and ordered.
Design Outcome The final architectural outcome of the solution.
The judging panel can also add other criteria based on their internal discussions – which will be in line with the problem statement. Participants are advised to fulfill the above-given criteria first in their design. Names of the jury panel will be announced soon.

YEARBOOK
Winners of this competition will get annually published with us in our e-yearbook and annual publications.