The Secret Garden House, designed by the Monastery of Architecture, is a home filled with natural light, caressed by wind and surrounded by green. The design is essentially a series of sheltered spaces which open out into the landscape. It is highly contextual, growing out of the challenges of the site. The site was unique with a lot of great trees with wonderful tall canopies. We took a decision to retain all these trees due to which the house is shaded throughout the day creating spaces which are comfortable to be in. The plot sloped down from the road to almost 2.7m below at the rear end. Instead of filling this up to the level of the road, the design made use of that level difference. Some of the earth towards the rear was cut and that was filled up in the front area. Essentially one enters the house from the upper level and comes down. What this created was a very private space at the lower level which opened into what we like to call the Secret Garden. All the living spaces look out into the green with large openings creating a visual transparency. We believe that each material has an inherent beauty to it. The material palette is a combination of multiple textures – from exposed rubble walls to exposed concrete slabs to unplastered cement block walls to natural stone flooring. They combine well with the surrounding green creating subtle variations in the spaces. Monastery of Architecture