Atmospheria : The Courtyard Kitchen | Studio Skywell | Raipur, (C.G) India
Atmospheria: the courtyard kitchen is a multi-cuisine restaurant located in Raipur (C.G), India. The restaurant combines various variegated dining options in a predominantly open-air concept that welcomes everyone to a calm and yet stimulating experience away from the city’s hustle and bustle. The site for the cafe is situated in a pristine setting surrounded by big beautiful trees and landscapes.
The space was designed with the intention of melding with the surroundings in a way that our concept conjoins smoothly with its aura and yet preserves a distinctive presence. A harmony with the nature is seen in our dining pods interlaced with local plants and our circular pebble paths that meander to imitate the softness of its surroundings.
Studio Skywell received a brief to transform the space, which was initially composed of a significant and somewhat undefined open area, a guard quarter, a temporary gazebo seating, and some little rooms for staff, into an open-air café. Raipur, located in the heart of central India, has a well-earned reputation ofexceedingly hot temperatures for the major part of the year, broken only by a fair amount of rainfall during the monsoon months. This posed a challenge to maintaining any open to sky space; accommodating and being mindful of the comfort of the people who will use this space.
As a design company, we endeavor to make use of passive and primitive ways to maintain a comfortable micro-climate on the site. This nudged us to transform the temporary gazebo seating into a central seating space enveloped by a pool for moderating the heat around the area. Various indigenous plants and trees were added to enhance the character and bridge the space between the central seating circle and its surrounding nature, all the while providing a cooling and shading effect.
To accommodate the diverse array of users that dot this place, we came up with a catalog of spaces to cater to different individuals and settings. Deck seating to enjoy some warm chai with friends, couple’s nook for an intimate and yet engaging setting, café area for our avid readers and poets, and a more wholesome personal dining space for families, Atmospheria binds together all these options and still adds an element of indoor seating for our more cynical and traditional diners.
Our favorite seat in the house- the central area with a circular swimming pool engulfing an island seating to relish your meal right by the water. Each circular deck seating is spacious and yet intimate. Diameters spanning from 4 to 5 meters provide magnificence. Utilizing our canvas to its fullest, we also ensure that every seating deck is about 3 – 3.5 meters apart from the next one, providing the full personal experience.
The circular pebble paths are smooth curves that meander freely between tables, giving a sense of style and flexibility at the same time. The natural landscape around the site is unrestricted, and we imbibe that quality throw these paths in the site too. The overarching concept is circular, with the stage as the focal point, and this generates a coherent dialog between the various seating decks. The environment pulls you in and gives the sense of being a part of something bigger, all the while preserving the distinctiveness of the individual elements. Our vision was to integrate the space visually and keep it segregated physically.
Steel dominated the space and was the central element in our construction, an homage to the steel plants of Chhattisgarh. Scrap nonstandard steel sizes were used liberally to stay true to our roots and balance the grandeur of the space with the authenticity of its essence.Diffuse lighting sets the ambiance as you walk in through the arched frames and enter the space.
The outdoor area makes use of punctured rods incorporated with lights to provide a warm glow in the evenings. Custom Jute lamps tie back with local Chhattisgarhi crafts and evenly light up the place indoors.The interior and exterior finishes are done in Asian paint textures to complement the rawness of the materials used.
FACT FILE
Project Name : Atmospheria : The Courtyard Kitchen
Architect’s Firm : Sudio Skywell
Principal Architects : Twinkle Nathani, Mayank Wadhwa
Project Category : Architecture
Project Location : Raipur (C.G) India
Site Area : 1200 m2
Total Built-up Area : 112 m2
Project Status : built in 2020
Landscape : Deval Taunk
Photographs Credits : Studio Anjor & Weddings by KK
