Tour of Sameep Padora's Lattice House

Lattice House is located in a new suburb on Jammu city’s outskirts in northwest India and is the brainchild of Mumbai-based architect Sameep Padora

(Image credit: Edmund Sumner)

By Ellie Stathaki

last updated 8 October 2022

in Features

Looking like a mysterious stack of timber boxes, the Lattice House is located in a new suburb on Jammu city’s outskirts in northwest India. Created by Mumbai-based architect Sameep Padora, the structure is defined by its characteristic, permeable skin made of horizontal bands of vertical wood lattice screens.

The architect, who is known for his craft based approach and his award-winning designs that combine the modern and the traditional, is also the hand behind the small but perfectly formed Shiv Temple in Maharashtra (2010) and the angular Fort House in Hyderabad (2014).

Take an interactive tour of Lattice House

The Lattice House’s clever facade elements act as the structure’s all-encompassing envelope, wrapping around everything, from balconies and sun shading, to storage and the house’s main living interiors. In one neat, single multi-tasking sweep, the screens also secure the residents’ privacy from passers-by’s prying eyes.

Clean white interiors inside let the structure’s distinct skin become its centrepiece. The internal arrangement is done on a horizontal basis; more private functions, such as bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms, are located to the rear of the house, while living, dinning and cooking areas are placed in an open plan layout towards the front. A garden is accessible from the front or sides, further elaborating on the house’s connection between indoors and outdoors.

Mysterious stack of wooden boxes — The structure sits like a mysterious stack of wooden boxes, set back from the street

Permeable skin made of horizontal bands of vertical wood lattice — The structure is defined by its characteristic, permeable skin made of horizontal bands of vertical wood lattice screens that make the house glow at night

House’s owners — During the day, the screen protects the house’s owners from prying eyes, as well as the region’s bright sun

Clever façade elements — Those clever façade elements at the same time act as the structure’s all-encompassing envelope, wrapping around everything...

Living interiors — ...from balconies, to storage and the house’s main living interiors

Clean white interiors inside let the structure’s distinct skin shine

Bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms — Inside, more private functions, such as bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms, are located to the rear of the house...

Dinning and cooking areas — ...while living, dinning and cooking areas are placed in an open plan layout towards the front

A garden is accessible from the front or sides of the house, linking further inside and outside

INFORMATION

For more information on the architecture visit the website

Photography: Edmund Sumner

TOPICS

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).