Check Out This Magnificent Mountain Home Designed By A Delhi Architect Near Shimla!

Architect Gaurav Sharma knows exactly how to blend traditional elegance into modern aesthetics.

Apart from the amazing vistas, weather and people, the thing that impresses us the most about life in the hills is the splendid local architecture. On our trips to the mountains, we often come across spectacular houses whose classic colonial designs and remote locations leave us awestruck. We came across one such house in Fagu, near Shimla, whose modern elegance and ingenious design, that perfectly integrates its surroundings, made us feel like its the most apt second home one could ever build.

Owned by a family from Shimla, whose ancestral home is also not far from Fagu, this magnificent house is named Villa Fagu. It was designed by a Delhi-based architect named Gaurav Sharma, whose work in Shimla has earned him the nickname of "mountain man with a plan." Gaurav's firm, Under The Mango Tree, has worked extensively in both India and abroad, and calls their plan for building Villa Fagu a difficult challenge as the land on which it was built is extremely narrow. Yet, perched at an altitude of 2510 meters, this mountain home caused no destruction to its surroundings, and the age-old cedar trees that skirt its boundaries were completely protected during the construction process. 

The house is essentially built in two trapezoidal volumes, one that contains the principal rooms while the other comprises the guest rooms and the study. Both spaces are connected by a a courtyard centred around a deodar tree, and designed in a way that showcases a play of sunlight and shadow.

The splendid height of the house not only gives you heartwarming vistas of the snow-capped mountains. Also, its angled roofs help in rainwater harvesting by sliding the water towards the catchments around the house. The bedrooms on the upper floors are fringed by verandahs that provide sun, shade and access to the most stunning views, and in autumn one can clearly see the Himalayan ranges from the house.

There's no TV, but the play area on the ground floor and central stove with seating makes up for the entertainment with storytelling evenings. Built using a combination of modern and traditional techniques, with the ideal amalgamation of the surroundings, this mountain home is the perfect holiday home one could ever build.