Designing a Home!

If we create from the heart nearly everything works; if from head then almost nothing...Anon.

Every time while working on planning of a new complex or building rather home is proper term,  I always wonder to what I should give priority? Is it the Club House or Party lawns or swimming pool or Entrance lobbies which make a complex more salable or valuable or a simple strait user friendly planning of the home they will be buying? What people look in the home they are buying is very complex question! It is as difficult as understanding a woman's mind, which even God's can’t do!

Joke apart you open any news paper & see the advertise of any housing complex, the race is on to give as many amenities like I mentioned above & many more & innovative too like Yoga Room etc! Good for the customer sure but with due respect to all those who advertise such amenities & which too is important in marketing our product, somewhere the main focus is getting shifted from the home to other factors is what I feel! As at the end of the day a person is going to settle down in his four rooms which he call home & not in any such facility of the complex & we need to understand this very fact. A real comfort giving home is the one which makes you feel so, as comfort is something like winter one has to feel & not to be said in words or explain! Yet we can work out the way to have that feeling & that's where the planning of the home comes in picture. One have to understand use of every room of the home & its relation with other rooms as the combine effect is what makes the home good or bad.

Here is where importance of planning the home comes in picture. Each room should serve its purpose to fullest for example a bed room, it should not be too large or too small but it should accommodate the bed of proper size & moving space around the same. Whether to fit in sitting or other utilities comes later & depending up on the class of clientele you are looking for but majority of the people wants bare minimum this much & yes proper natural light & ventilation which is a must in which ever room you move in the home. A little privacy also is a must as we moved from wada's to apartments & obviously we have changed the culture of the community living in a way, so are our needs from the home in which we live in! Our residences are reflection of our culture, as see the old city where togetherness was of prime importance & that's why right from entrance to washing places to the chowks in the central part of wada or chawl, every space is mostly for common use! The days have changed & so as our expectations from the home &  it has to get reflected while planning the present homes. Many a times we advertise terrace flats & mostly all the present flats have a small attached terrace to bedroom or living. It’s a must as some open space adjoining to home from where you can watch your piece of sky is necessary to relax you. But does we see the utility of the same i.e. does it got some privacy or else you are standing in your terrace with cup of tea in morning & entire complex can have a look at you! Can you enjoy such scene? certainly I won’t & here is where planners skill comes in picture as to look for the smallest details like this & placing the orientation of terrace such that it will have some privacy for which it’s use is expected.

Relation of the rooms within the home is another such aspect. Each room has got its privacy as well its easily accessible to other rooms; it’s a tricky situation & there lays the real challenge of planning. As with constantly increasing prices every square inch of the flat is important as someone has to pay his/her fortune for that space & keeping this fact in mind we have to design the hone so we can give value for every single rupee of the buyer spending for the home!  Here an important thing is there is a strong need to educate or make aware the customer about this aspect of home. And for that we as developer have to acknowledge that what we are building the structure which is going to become a home for many! It’s not the amenities or the specifications around which a home is being panned but it’s around the home all the amenities are being created. As a buyer also one should understand that why he/she is looking in the home they are buying, is it amenities or the pure home within which you will be spending most of your time & all this at what cost! The soul of the project should be the home & its internal planning keeping in mind use by the end user & not just the surroundings or the specifications of the home!


Lastly the home should be big enough to accommodate your all needs at the same time it should be small enough for you to maintain as well use it to fullest! And for that as the quote said one should plan it from the heart & not just by head. As this is one product where sentiments are going to be preserved for generations to come & they only can be understood by the heart & acted up on by the brain! That's the job of the developer!

--
Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Envo-Power Committee, Credai, Pune

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