A series of floating terraces shade a Hyderabad home by Studio Symbiosis

Delhi-based Studio Symbiosis has designed a villa ornamented with a set of floating terraces that bridge the indoors with the outdoor nature-oriented spaces. ‘Floating Terraces’ will be nestled in the green, rocky terrain of Hyderabad, Telangana, with the terraces protecting residents from the region’s hot climate.

The project seeks to create an intimate relationship between the built and unbuilt spaces with the form of the building creating a series of outdoor courtyards. Designed as an empty canvas, the villa will allow residents to adapt to the spaces as they desire.

Beginning with a nine-grid square plan derived from the Vastu Shastra (traditional Indian system of architecture), an arrangement of a series of floating terraces along semi-closed courtyards was formulated. The pattern was then modulated by creating alternating periphery grids into outdoor courtyards. The resulting scheme formalised an undulating relationship between the built and the landscape that extends throughout the home.

The Delhi-based Studio Symbiosis has choreographed the spaces into varying levels of privacy, orbiting around courtyards and landscapes to create different alliances with the outdoors. A double-height living space, accessed through an intimate courtyard, will occupy the centre of the home and spill outwards into the kitchen, library, formal drawing and outdoor landscape.

From the family living and the entrance, the residents will be able to view four different courtyard plantations, connecting them at once to nature. The greenery will extend past the indoor living spaces into the outdoor semi-sheltered verandas, and further into open lawns. The villa will also have an outhouse, which contains a gym, pool, spa and outdoor kitchen for celebrity chefs.

Flanked along the central living area are the bedrooms, each exposed on three sides to its own outdoor courtyard. The intimate rooms are designed to give each family member their own garden space, creating private indoor-outdoor spaces within the oscillating framework of the home.

The deep projections of the floating terraces and the breezy outdoor spaces will free the residents from the hot climate of Hyderabad. The cantilevers will also block the summer sun from entering the indoor spaces, and permit the winter sunlight in to warm up the home.

Vertical wooden fins will veil the building, protecting it from excessive heat gain and creating visual porosity needed inside the house. The fins have been designed as a fluid transition to create a sense of a whole, rather than parts. Exposed concrete, natural wood, greenery and water will facilitate a modern aesthetic for the building, as well as provoke the senses of the residents.

Project Details

Name: Floating Terraces 
Architecture/ Interiors / Landscape: Studio Symbiosis
Site Area: 1 Acre
Built-up Area: 1100 sqm Villa, 180 sqm Gym/Shop
Location: Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Status: Under Construction
Team: Amit Gupta, Britta Knobel Gupta, Gaurav Gupta, Amit Agrawal, Kartik Misra, Jitendra Farkade, Vedant Sangal, Anjan Mondal, Chaithanya Goyal, Govinda Dey, Deeksha Lalwani, Bhanuja Dora, Chinmay Chowdhary, Harshi Garg, Gagandeep Singh Virdilo