Sweating over every inch, often while designing a space, we say that we wish we had more space in hand to play around with. Today we will break that common belief that size of the space is a major contributing factor to the success of the design. 
This week we will step out of Mumbai and walk through an energetic design, by my friend architect Hardik Shah. Contemporary in vibe with innovative designing in a constraint plot size of 35’ x 35, in  a densely populated community of urban Surat, this design derives its form by cutting up the structure (specifically, the levels that house the living spaces) into four cubes, and shifting one quarter (on the upper level) out, to create a cantilevered block. 



The footprint of the house, after leaving out regulation setbacks, was approximately 25’ x 25’. Within this square was a set up a grid that finally yielded three rectangular blocks: two of 10’ x 25’ and one of 5’ x 25’, with the smaller block allotted to circulation, services and storage. The house can be accessed via a discreet, tunnel-like and narrow staircase nestled between the wall of an elevated garden block and that of the structure, a deliberate attempt to move away from the open-to-public-view staircases seen otherwise, with little or no thought behind their design. The elevation also strikes an equilibrium between solidity and lightness; opacity and transparency. Below the cantilevered concrete block of the master bedroom, for instance, is a long L-shaped puncture spanning the two walls of the living room.