The typical cluster design at Antharam, Sustainable Farmhouses by Organo, is at odds with the traditional concept of urban villa developments where rows of houses are right next to each other with a road going in between as shown in the picture below.
At Antharam, we took a different approach. The clusters are designed to be in a staggered formation with pedestrian-friendly walkways in the front of the house so as to increase ventilation naturally.
This eco-friendly construction design accentuates the feeling of a rural village street in an urban setting. It also has the advantage of creating pockets of space for social gatherings and community activities in and around the Cluster Clubs.
We have put in a lot of thought and analysis into the design and placement of these clusters. First, wind analysis was carried out to see the predominant wind direction in the area.
This wind rose diagram shows the predominant wind direction at various times in the year.
In the first half of the year, the wind is generally from east and north-east whereas, in the second half of the year, the wind is predominantly from west.
The next step was to analyze how wind passes through the clusters to decide on the placement of the units.
Based on this analysis, the placement of the units was modified slightly to maximise the amount of wind that shall pass through the clusters at different times of the year
It is important to note that wind is one of the most complex systems to model and simulate as it’s very dynamic and varies based on temperature, pressure, humidity, surrounding landscape, any breaks such as trees. Therefore, what this modelling tells us is whether on an overall design level, we are going in the right direction or not.
