The Blissful Life!

The Back to Heaven weekend homes, close to Vadodara, conceptualised by architects Shourya Patel and Dexter Fernandes of Uneven, offers a slice of village life replete with a lakeside view for city dwellers.  

Curated by: Deepa Nair
Photographs: Darshan Dave, courtesy Uneven 

Gorgeous views surround the cottages at Back to Heaven.

The project

Back to Heaven is an inhouse project which was incepted by architects Shourya Patel and Dexter Fernandes, principals at Vadodara-based Uneven, while sitting near a lakeside one fine evening. The architect friends thought of the perks of living a village life and thought of the possibilities of building a farmhouse at this surreal location. Soon this thought took a new dimension by the idea of doing greater good for people and making them a part of their dream. That was the time when Back to Heaven was born at this place, giving a very positive vibe that was unnegotiable to miss out on. Hence, they decided on making a small community of weekend homes for people of all age groups. The idea was to create weekend homes for all-income groups where they can get their own private space away from the city’s hustle and spend some time close to the nature.

Back to Heaven would instantly remind anyone of a rustic villages, albeit with modern facilities.

The design intent

Located away from the hustle bustle of the city yet just about 20 minutes’ drive away from Vadodara city, Back to Heaven sits on the lakeside of Chansad village, the birthplace of Shri Pramukh Swami Maharaj. The lakeside view weekend homes set in a perfect traditional picturesque setting, are designed to bring back village-like life, where one can enjoy the natural surroundings, the chirping of birds and the beautiful flora and fauna. A lifestyle without phones and internet, this community shall celebrate the oneness with nature and family. The campus promotes pedestrian means to experience this stunning place. Since it becomes difficult to fetch out time in maintaining a weekend home, utmost care has been taken to offer cottages without any worry of maintenance, to avoid the problem faced by most of the farmhouse owners these days.

Intricate woodwork, warm wood tones and natural kota stone floor feature in the cottage rooms.

The spatial configurations

Planned according to vastu, the layout of each cottage offers contemporary facilities in a very traditional way. Modular multi-purpose furniture has been designed to justify the respective areas in the interiors. The mezzanine acts as additional space, easy to host guests and friends. As seen in most weekend homes, the connection between inside and outside is prominent to keep one in contact with nature. The common spaces offer a canteen and a lakeside facing swimming pool made in the same materials to continue the feel of a village.

Another view of the bedroom in the cottage. Note the open bathroom attached to this room.

The material palette

The environmental-friendly and climate responsive cottages are designed in the most original form of architecture, by the means of local and natural materials. The flooring of the outdoors is jaisalmer stone in combination with kota stone. The toilets are also done in kota stone. The backyard has a barbeque kota stone seating and a casual spill-out space in each cottage, which invites one to spend quality time with family and friends. Lastly, the green roof reduces indoor temperature, giving a comfortable living environment by a very sustainable method.

The construction of the cottages uses local and natural materials.

The highlights

About 40 per cent of the site is kept non-built; designed and developed to be green by adequate plantation through most suitable landscape design. A lot of dry pockets around the lake were revived by tree-plantation during the inception of this project. The use of natural materials and cost-effective methods of construction, promotes sustainable living. No existing trees were cut during planning of this scheme and a lot of live trees have been planted through relocation. The green paver blocks were first of its kind to be used creating ‘green roads’. The locally crafted furniture attempts to retain the traditional work offered by artisans of Kutch.

The challenges

The major challenge for the architects was to retain the existing trees and make use of natural materials as much as possible to create eco-friendly and sustainable cottages along with the overall site.

Fact File

Project: Back to Heaven
Location: Vadodara
Area: 1L sq ft
Principal architects: Shourya Patel and Dexter Fernandes
Design team: Amit Boghani, Hardik Kharadi and Ami Shah