Rajgruha | EyeRich Architect’s | Nagpur
Modern Geometry Meets Regional Texture
This residential project showcases a modern architectural style that combines clean, simple shapes with the comforting texture of traditional, earthy materials. The design uses a basic set of materials and clear geometric blocks to create a house exterior that is lively to look at and feels solid and well-built. The overall look is modern and expressive, focusing on how the structure’s shape, texture, and light interact.
Material Palette and Expression
The architectural expression is defined by the high-contrast interplay between three primary materials:
Smooth White Plaster:
This is the dominant surface treatment, enveloping the main volumes of the structure. The stark white provides a clean, neutral, and sharp backdrop, emphasizing the sculptural quality of the overall massing. It reflects daylight, contributing to a modern and light feel.
Exposed Terracotta/Red Brick:
Used strategically as an accent, the brickwork introduces rich texture, earthy color, and a sense of regional context. Its application is not monolithic but highly articulated, serving both aesthetic and environmental purposes: o Perforated Jali Screens: Seen prominently on the crowning parapet and selected wall strips, the patterned brick creates semi-transparent screens. These “jali” elements are crucial for controlling solar heat gain, ensuring natural ventilation, and providing privacy while casting dynamic, moving shadows onto the interiors and balconies.
Relief Patterning:
Sections of the brickwork, particularly the balcony balustrades, utilize a technique where bricks are recessed or projected (likely in a checkerboard or angular pattern). This creates a highly tactile surface that generates a strong interplay of light and shadow, enhancing the three-dimensional depth of the facade.
Neutral Grey/Cement Finish:
This material is applied to the key structural elements, including the window surrounds, vertical fins, and the frame of the entrance gate. The grey provides a grounding and defining boundary, visually separating the crisp white volumes from the warm red accents, thus reinforcing the building’s geometric articulation.
The Filler Slab technique significantly reduces the consumption of concrete and overall slab weight, leading to a more cost-effective and sustainable structure, while also contributing to better thermal insulation.
Elevation and Massing
The elevation is highly articulated, utilizing projections and recesses to create a sense of depth and visual layering.
Layered Volumes:
The structure is organized into distinct horizontal layers. The lower recessed entrance and balcony create a sheltered void, allowing the upper volumes to cantilever slightly, enhancing the perception of robust massing.
Vertical Rhythm:
Verticality is established by the prominent white columns and grey fins that flank the central balcony, directing the eye upward toward the capped brick cube.
Entrance Gateway:
The entrance is defined by a simple, monolithic grey portal, which is integrated with the white and brick boundary wall. This design choice ensures the compound wall feels like a cohesive extension of the main residence’s architectural language.
Lighting Design:
Small, recessed spotlights are integrated into the ceiling, dramatically highlighting the Filler Slab pattern and casting a warm glow onto the white walls below, especially towards the evening.
Aesthetic and Design Language
The aesthetic is best described as Climate-Responsive Modernism. The design language is characterized by bold, clean lines and a strong volumetric composition.
Geometric Abstraction:
The building is a composition of large, interlocking rectangular and cubic volumes. The most prominent feature is the overhanging cube volume that caps the upper floor, which anchors the front elevation.
Dynamic Fenestration:
The windows on the side elevation are particularly distinctive. They are set deep within trapezoidal or angled concrete boxes that project dramatically from the main wall plane. These unique surrounds function as built-in sun-shades (chajjas), protecting the glass from direct sun exposure while creating a sculptural element that adds depth and dynamism.
Pattern and Light:
Further geometric interest is added by the soffits (undersides of the balconies), which feature a repetitive pattern of circular recesses or discs painted in the same terracotta color as the brick. This complements the linearity of the rest of the facade. The circular window centered in the main brick jali acts as a deliberate focal point, contrasting the predominantly rectilinear grid.
The overall design demonstrates a successful synthesis of contemporary architectural principles—geometric purity and functional shading—with a contextual material expression, resulting in a residence that is both modern and rooted in its local environment.
Interior Lover Team’s view on the project
Elegantly composed with a quiet sense of balance, Rajgruha, designed by EyeRich Architect’s under the leadership of Ar. Prasheel Bangar presents an interior narrative that is both contemporary and grounded in warmth. Located in Nagpur, this 1,390 sq. ft. residence is guided by a décor language rooted in geometric clarity, where clean lines and restrained forms are softened through tactile, regionally inspired textures. A calm palette of whites and muted greys establishes visual serenity, allowing material depth and natural light to define the overall experience. Earth-toned accents and textured surfaces introduce subtle richness, lending character without disturbing the minimalist sensibility.
Patterned details and handcrafted expressions are applied with restraint, creating rhythm and visual interest while maintaining spatial harmony. Lighting is thoughtfully integrated to accentuate surfaces and textures, bringing depth and warmth as daylight transitions into evening. Sustainability and comfort are seamlessly woven into the interior expression, resulting in a thermally balanced and composed environment. Overall, Rajgruha reflects a refined, climate-responsive design ethos that feels timeless, elegant, and deeply contextual—aptly captured under the theme Modern Geometry Meets Regional Texture.
FACT FILE
Project Name: Rajgruha
Design Firm : EyeRich Architect’s
Principal Designer: Ar.Prasheel Bangar
Project Type: Residential Architecture
Project Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra
Year Built: 2025 June
Plot Area: 1390 Sq. ft
Photography Credit: not.justarchitects
Structure Engineers: R-siddhii Associate and consultant
