Together… With Style

Redefining sprawling, ZZ Architects have designed a three-level bungalow in Jubilee Hills Hyderabad, inhabited by a close-knit family in which three generations are happy to be together. Privacy and togetherness have been juggled with panache by the architects, their customary dollops of style ever omnipresent, says Devyani Jayakar.

- Devyani Jayakar

Three generations of a family living together is a dynamic which is on the wane in contemporary city homes. So when Krupa Zubin and Zubin Zainuddin of ZZ Architects were approached to create a home in Hyderabad’s swanky Jubilee Hills for just such a family, they were cognizant of the special mix of privacy and togetherness that their design would have to factor into the home.

Pleasantly free of multiple demands and ego tussles, the large extended family of ten was happy to go along with Krupa and Zubin’s suggestions. ‘The family consisted of the grandparents, their two sons and the youngest generation,’ says Krupa. Whenever we visited the site, a group of ten of them would unobtrusively give us company, open to all our ideas although they’d had a much simpler home earlier.

Hyderabad, as one knows, has rocky sites. This one was no exception. ‘From the road level to the top, there was a 40-foot incline,’ says Zubin. Using it to advantage, the duo has created an inclined ramp which leads up to the porch. This height allows the volume of the house to ‘float’ over the plot. ‘The existing neighbouring bungalow on the site abutting the rear wall is almost 40 feet above our plot and therefore provides a large dead wall which needed to be considered while conceptualizing the architecture of the home. Along with following traditional Vastu considerations, an axial division was created both vertically and horizontally between the private family accessed spaces and the formal entertaining areas. The front has large frames in travertine which visually reduce the height of the house. ‘We wanted the home to be visually appealing even if someone was just driving past.’