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Photography: Avesh Gaur Photography

New Delhi-based Unbox Design has designed the Portal House, which is a multi-family residential project spanning 12,000 sq. ft. The client was an upcoming young developer who wanted an extroverted building that interacted with its context and facilitated connection without losing privacy on a site open on two sides. The front opens onto a primary approach road overlooking a single full-grown tree, and the back offers filtered views of a small community park. The building accommodates three families on four floors – two of them are single-level apartments and one is a duplex.

The firm carefully studied the climatic conditions and user comfort to derive the massing, which is divided into two zones. Lesser-used service areas such as toilets and staircases are kept towards the southern side, affected by the hot sun. Living spaces and bedrooms are aligned with the open facades to maximize daylight, ventilation, and connection with the surroundings. This reduces the need for artificial lighting during the daytime, making the household energy-efficient.

The firm added fins at the edge to create ‘portals’ in vertical mass with deep balconies jutting out. By placing the fins at irregular intervals, they experimented with the scale and the aperture size of the multiple portals. They are clad in Gwalior Mint, with alternating courses of smooth and coarse textures. Angled fins with their dual texture interact with light to create myriad patterns of shadows and light. On the first floor, a narrow portal is sandwiched between two wider portals. The more evenly spaced portals on the second-floor reminiscence the mature sound of balanced notes.