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Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin travel to India, and visit a house designed to be like 'chocolate sauce poured over vanilla ice cream'.

Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin travel to India, where traditional architecture meets cutting-edge design in stunning family homes. The first stop is the House Cast in Liquid Stone. Built in the highlands outside Mumbai, it is part brutalist fortress, part traditional Indian courtyard house and designed to be like 'chocolate sauce poured over vanilla ice cream'. Nature has been fused into the design, from the basalt quarried from beneath the building to the wild grasses and trees that grow freely amongst the living rooms and courtyards - in a house where you are never entirely inside or outside.

In the epic, mountainous scenery of the Western Ghats, they discover the 'House of Three Streams.' Built by using bridges to link the only areas of the hillside flat enough for construction, it is a delicate weekend home that rests gently on the landscape. The name describes waterways that form during the monsoon rains and cascade through the building itself. With a swooping zinc roof, little in the way of walls and no front door, Piers says 'houses are better when they don't try to look like houses'.

The third home is a stunning riverside bolthole. 'Riparian' draws on Indian architectural heritage in an homage to the tea plantation Veranda house - but this one is half buried in the riverbank. The subterranean build and turf roof defend the house against the monsoon rains and scorching summer heat. But despite Caroline 'embracing her inner badger', it turns out the house is a light and airy gateway into a rural idyll.

The final destination is 'Collage House.' Piers and Caroline are greeted by a facade made up entirely of recycled doors and windows hung within a concrete frame - all reclaimed from buildings that were demolished to make way for city skyscrapers. Inside they find a kaleidoscope of old materials, given new purpose in a witty and visually stunning family home, leading Piers to proclaim 'the future of architecture? I think it's this.'.

59 minutes

Last on

Mon 27 Mar 2023 16:15
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Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:02

    Coldplay

    Viva La Vida

  • 00:03

    Aretha Franklin

    Jumpin' Jack Flash

  • 00:03

    The Heavy

    How You Like Me Now?

  • 00:03

    Coldplay

    Viva La Vida

  • 00:06

    Adele

    Set Fire To The Rain

  • 00:07

    Foster the People

    Pumped Up Kicks

  • 00:10

    Astronauts

    Skydive

  • 00:23

    Katy Perry

    Spiritual

  • 00:26

    Noah and the Whale

    Blue Skies

  • 00:33

    The Heavy

    Gotta Have It

  • 00:34

    Jimmy Cliff

    Many Rivers To Cross

  • 00:41

    Astronauts

    In My Direction

  • 00:44

    Vampire Weekend

    A-Punk

  • 00:45

    JAY-Z

    What They Gonna Do Part II

  • 00:47

    Nitin Sawhney

    River Pulse

  • 00:50

    Nine Inch Nails

    Right Where It Belongs

  • 00:53

    Bombay Bicycle Club

    Always Like This

  • 00:58

    1 Giant Leap

    The Way You Dream (Feat. Asha Bhosle & Michael Stipe) (feat. Michael Stipe, Whirimako Black & Asha Bhosle)

Credits

Presenter Caroline Quentin
Presenter Piers Taylor
Production Company Wall to Wall Media
Series Producer Simon Davies
Director Will Hustler
Executive Producer Anna Miralis

Broadcasts