Penda Designs Sky Villas with Vertical Gardens for Hyderabad
In designing the sky villa complex, Penda looked to the architectural typology of “private house with a garden,” surrounding each 2-story unit with a 500 square foot (46 square meter) balcony containing a ribbon of lawn and a modular planter system. By giving each villa a spacious green-space, even when the units are stacked, the complex retains a sense of lightness and openness. Each planter can be filled by the owner with plants of different sizes and species to create a natural backdrop, or to serve as a garden for vegetables and herbs.
The gardens also work as an effective passive cooling system for the building, providing natural ventilation throughout the complex and shielding residents from the hot Hyderabad climate. This in turn will save up to 60% of the energy consumed by a typical condominium building, reducing the project’s overall carbon footprint.
The entire complex was designed in accordance with the traditional Hindu architectural system of Vaastu, which prescribes principles of design, layout, orientation and spatial geometry, as well as an importance of creating architecture in harmony with nature. Vaastu remains an esteemed practice in modern Indian real estate development, being employed by famed Indian architect Charles Correa in many projects throughout his career. Penda responded to this need by giving as much space as possible back to nature in the form of garden terraces.
The complex is set to begin construction in the fall of this year. By Patrick Lynch.
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Architects
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Location
Hyderabad, Telangana, India -
Project Team
Chris Precht, Sun Dayong, Yu ZiZhi, Xue Bai, Anna Andronova, Sun Mingxue, Xie Kerry -
Area
450000.0 ft2 -
Project Year
2016 -
Photographs
Courtesy of Penda