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Corbett House

Architecture · Pakhro

Corbett House: A farm resort at the edge of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, rebuilt from its own old walls, with the jungle brought inside the rooms.

A farm resort at the edge of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, rebuilt from its own old walls, with the jungle brought inside the rooms.

At the edge of the Corbett Tiger Reserve stands a fifteen-acre farmhouse. Four acres became a resort. The rest stays farmland, kept for planning, planting and cultivation, so that the food on the table is grown just beyond the window.

The brief was clear. The resort had to be sustainable, durable and comfortable in every season. It had to look niche, and speak to people who want a rustic farmhouse, with farm-to-table at its heart. And we set ourselves one more aim: the jungle should not stop at the door. It had to come inside the rooms.

We began with a hand sketch: rooms arranged around a central courtyard, with routes drawn in colour to test how guests, staff and light would move. Then came the details: doors, screens, frames and joinery.

The old units were taken down. Everything that came out went back in: all of that waste was reused in the new construction. Cracked sanitary ware, no longer usable as it was, was repurposed for finishing. Whatever more was needed was sourced locally, and made on site.

So brick is laid with open patterns, to let light and air move through. Bamboo screens go up on site. Beds are built from branches, and fences from logs, cut and fitted by hand. Lamps are made by hand too, and after dark they throw patterned light across the beams and walls, while the sky stays visible. This is environmental psychology at work: contact with nature calms us and restores our attention, so branches rise through the rooms, and timber, brick and low warm light carry the forest inside.

The cottages are spread across the farm, built as modules, so more can be added at any time. And our founder stayed on site through the entire execution, so every decision was made with the design team right there.

Walk the verandah, the stair corner, the corridor to a door. Each place is tuned for one thing: to slow you down, and let you hear the forest.

Client: Rohit Gandhi, founder of WION. Design: Mu.S.Ex.

Pictures

The verandah at night: lamps, timber and brick under a steel-framed roof.
The verandah at night: lamps, timber and brick under a steel-framed roof.
The house at night, glowing from within.
The house at night, glowing from within.
The house by day, with the bamboo ladder still against the upper floor.
The house by day, with the bamboo ladder still against the upper floor.
The finished living room: a stair up to the bed, branches rising through the space, a green sofa below.
The finished living room: a stair up to the bed, branches rising through the space, a green sofa below.
Lamps under the timber beams, throwing patterned light.
Lamps under the timber beams, throwing patterned light.
Lamps washing a brick wall.
Lamps washing a brick wall.
Where it began: a hand-drawn furniture plan, rooms arranged around the central courtyard.
Where it began: a hand-drawn furniture plan, rooms arranged around the central courtyard.
The electrical and lighting layout, drawn over the plan: switchboards, light points and plug points.
The electrical and lighting layout, drawn over the plan: switchboards, light points and plug points.
Sketches of doors, screens, frames and joinery, worked out before building.
Sketches of doors, screens, frames and joinery, worked out before building.
Sketchbook pages: roof trusses drawn and worked through in section.
Sketchbook pages: roof trusses drawn and worked through in section.
Early on: a bunk bed frame stands in the thatched room, before the finishes.
Early on: a bunk bed frame stands in the thatched room, before the finishes.
Laying the perforated brick screen, with the mason beside it.
Laying the perforated brick screen, with the mason beside it.

See it in the design corridor →