wallmakers designs its jackfruit garden residence with a twisting surface

wallmakers completes its sculptural and luminous jackfruit garden residence in kerala, india. the name of the rammed earth project celebrates its retention of a huge jackfruit tree growing in one corner of the site. designed for a large family, the house is organized to maximize privacy while introducing more inclusive common spaces. this strategy takes shape with the introduction of a compound wall that circles around the historic tree and continues to twists upwards to seamlessly become the shell roof of the house. this in turn creates an intimate space landscaped as a japanese zen garden that provides shade and privacy.

images by anand jaju, syam sreesylam

wallmakers‘ jackfruit garden residence is largely constructed with compressed stabilized earth blocks and rammed earth walls. the earthen walls are characterized by strategically placed apertures which allow for cross-ventilation. the compressed stabilized earth blocks are mud blocks produced by compressing gravel, sand, and cement together and whose embodied energy is four times less than that of a typical fired brick. these walls take the load of the ferro-cement roof structure and its pre-cast, steel reinforced, arched shells. these shells effectively reduce the overall cement consumption by 40% and steel consumption by 30%.

the interior of wallmakers’ jackfruit garden residence hosts an organically sculpted stair that seems to float over a luminous atrium. the form of the staircase suggests a fallen cloth spreading over a series of crisscrossing pipes. meanwhile, the design team covers the large windows with a protective lattice, designed by piecing together discarded pipes from the scrapyard. the pipes fold dynamically to become chandeliers in all the rooms, celebrating the use of upcycled scrap materials to sustainably create art pieces that cast patterned shadows throughout the day.