This home-studio in Greater Noida combines functionality with creativity. The result is a stunning piece of art!
Art and creative expression allow for a fluid confluence of ideas. No wonder that more and more places are being built where artists can converge and ideate both privately and in groups.
Artrovert has been built for the same reason at the peri-urban artists’ colony called Kaladham in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The building is vertical, which quashes that idea of a bucolic sprawl. The general tenor of the material palette is refined and well-crafted. Sunlight is abundant and the floor space is expansive and averse to clutter. The 280 sq m studio project spans multiple floors and is constructed to look and feel like a continuum.
Artrovert employs a deliberate work-in-progress look. Like its internal spaces, its armature too exhibits some unconventional flexibility. Its panels can swivel across many permutations, allowing for the art on them to be turned outwards for public viewing. Similarly, external art works can be swivelled inwards for private viewing. The panels and slits are also part of the building’s passive character. Thermal stacking ensures hot air supply through the slits even as the expansive and tall floor structure prevents excessive heat gain.
Three prominent materials helped realise the brief finalised by the team and Dube, who was as much collaborator as client – dour distressed concrete, shiny ceramic mosaic tiles, and restrained wood. The three come together to establish an almost clockwork loop of visuals around the space.
The furniture, sparse and mostly leaning against walls and railings, bring in an element of subtlety. A dash of colour comes courtesy the cushions and the linen.
The mezzanine level holds a study that provides a great viewing platform for the entire building. A two-room residence occupies the top floor, built for artists looking to spend short durations away from their usual working grounds. A smaller residence at the ground floor has been built for the studio helpers.
A private garden is planned at the back, while a sloping, faceted front lawn has been opened up for public screenings and talks.
