Tara Baoli

Kashid, Maharashtra, India
completed 2006

Surrounded by mountains, forests, and the turquoise waters of the Arabian Sea, the house is configured around a tropical scent garden filled with Plumeria, ferns, grasses, bamboo and jasmine. Open louvred corridors wrap the living areas, orienting the house inwards to the central courtyard. Beneath the courtyard lies a secret room filled with water from a subterranean aquifer. Light diminishes as one descends the stairs through a stone corridor, intensifying a sense of passage into the earth. The pool has a comforting silence, as water enters the building without ripples or sound. The subterranean room is a refuge from the hot Indian sun, piercing the ground through circular air holes casting shafts of light across the stone walls into water. Inside the stone-lined cavity, ocean sounds reverberate from above and water fluctuates freely, responsive to the seasons and tides. When it rains, water from the roof of the house percolates into the well, recharging the aquifer. The artesian well provides water for the house and gardens through the year.


































































































































































































































all photos copyright Studio Mumbai / Prabuddha Das Gupta 2007