Intertwining nature and landscape, a built form in Ahmedabad, India, responds to its context with a gentle presence. Dubbed Habitat 0,the circular community centre is conceived as an immersive experience through space and natural landscape by Ahmedabad-based RA Design Studio. Arranged as a circular form tying community, openness and spatial fluidity at its core, the hospitality architecture welcomes one into a spatial rhythm that is grounded and constantly shifts with the light. It is envisioned as a piece of architecture that melts into the green expanse it inhabits, evoking a sense of harmony. “The circular architectural space blends qualities of introversion and extroversion—a design that offers privacy while still being open and connected to the surroundings through 360-degree views,” Radhika Dutt, principal architect, RA Design Studio, tells STIR.
Aerial view of Habitat 0’s circular form Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
The structure is created to blend into its surrounding landscape Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
An aerial view showcasing the merging of the terrace and the landscape Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
Under the direction of Dutt, RA Design Studio is renowned for its deliberate treatment of location, context and material. Conversation—between people, site and purpose—is at the heart of the practice’s architectural philosophy. “Every project is an opportunity to engage with the cultural, social and environmental layers that shape its context,” the Indian architect shares. Form, for RA Design Studio, results from deep investigation, aiming to express an awareness of materiality and a desire to blend in with the environment rather than overpower it. Habitat 0, as Dutt identifies it, is “a space where boundaries dissolve: between home and landscape, architecture and experience.”
The building is created using concrete and locally available stone and timber Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
A series of steps connecting the landscape to the terrace Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
Outdoor seating is provided in the surrounding garden Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
The layout of Habitat 0 is marked by a circle of individual spaces arranged around a common central courtyard. Picturesque views and smooth visual consistency are achieved for each unit through consistent connections to the outdoors. Through this configuration, the architects ensure opportunities for both social interaction and isolation in equal measure, fostering a sense of unity while permitting personal escape. At the project’s core, the courtyard design transforms into an open, welcoming and inherently socially democratic space, allowing users to freely transition between public and private zones. The amphitheatre serves as a gathering place, a performance area and a topographical intervention as it gently spirals across the land as a circulation channel. While merging into the terrace garden above, it forms a stepped sequence that offers itself as both a pause and a passage.
The central courtyard is a space for socialising and gathering Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
The courtyard is visually connected to nature through different openings Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
A dual-skin design skillfully pursues a balance between visual drama and functionality. The outer layer is made up of a series of weather-protective arches that cast fish-like shadows on the interior surfaces, changing and moving in response to natural light. The inner skin positioned behind this is a clear glass facade that preserves transparency between the inside and outside by letting sunlight into the living areas. In addition to improving the interiors’ flexibility and openness, the layered composition adds to the project’s immersive spatial quality. However, creating such a form came with its challenges apropos of design opportunities, material limitations, labour intensiveness and precision.
Roof cut-outs cast dynamic shadows on the pool’s surface Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
Carefully curated external interventions reaffirm the spatial narrative of Habitat 0. Every tier of the site, from the inner courtyard to the outer garden and the terrace, is intended to promote a free-flowing relationship with nature. The semi-open swimming pool stands out among these elements as one of the focal points of the circular layout. Nestled within the structure’s curved profile, the pool design is separated into two sections and surrounded by sloping walls that allow for visual openness. Shafts of natural light penetrate through roof cutouts, animating the water’s surface through the day. At dusk, soft lighting makes the area suitable for both private parties and solitary moments.
The pool faces the sculptural arches opening up to the landscape Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
Additionally, materiality becomes an essential aspect to ground the architecture in its surroundings for which RA Design Studio worked closely with regionally produced materials and talented local craftspeople. This helps the local economy in addition to visually integrating the construction into the landscape design. Inside, spatial experiences are heightened by micro-elements: the soft glow of evening lighting around the pool, shadows cast by the arches, glass panels and apertures moving across walls like living art and cutouts in the roof that invite the sky into the mundane.
Habitat 0 – floor plan Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
Habitat 0 – elevations Image: Courtesy of RA Design Studio
In its form, layout and detailing, Habitat 0 presents more than just a response to its landscape—it echoes intentions to become a part of it. The unassuming structure shies away from asserting itself on the site; instead, nature, terrain, light and daily life sculpt its final shell. This creative exchange culminates in a living environment both grounded and fluid, where architecture becomes an extension of experience. RA Design Studio, in its inquiry of connection and community, lays bare a blueprint of contemporary architecture that is striking, but more importantly, sensitive, considered and enduring.