Architect Gurjit Singh Matharoo gave an Indian family, that runs an aquarium shop, a concrete country house outside Ahmedabad where they can 'sleep with the fishes'.

In Sicily, mafiosi dispose of their victims by weighting their feet with concrete and dropping them in the sea—after which they are said to be sleeping with the fishes. An Indian family that runs an aquarium shop has intentionally chosen to sleep alongside their fish when they spend a weekend at their country house outside Ahmedabad. Architect Gurjit Singh Matharoo, a master of frugal inventiveness, gave them a simple concrete shell that is embedded in a slope and flanked by four nine thousands litre fish-breeding tanks. Working on a budget of about 70 euros per m², he has created a versatile, sustainable retreat that seems to grow organically from the grassy plot.

The poured concrete is smooth and the geometries are simple: a low linear block with a tall rooftop water tank, and a curved wall wrapped around a rainwater storage tank embedded in the slope. Buried alongside is a bio-gas plant and an earth heat exchange tube. Water is recycled over the open fish tanks, which are lined up against a retaining wall and faced with glass. Concrete balls, selected as inexpensive counterweights for the continuous row of push-up shutters on either side of the linear living area give the house its name, House with Balls.

The counterweights hold the shutters in place at any angle, but when the shutters are fully opened they totally disappear from view as they are submerged into the pond or lie upon the grass, both of which lie adjacent to the house on either side. When the shutters are fully opened, the concrete frame around the windows, ‘play multiple roles; as a seat from the garden side, steps for children to climb on from the garden or jump to from the terrace and a weather protection device’ says Matharoo. The House with Balls combines openness and enclosure, a contrast of gurgling water and lily pads on one side and a smooth concrete ledge on the other.

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