Plot Area: 1200 sft
Office Area: 1400 sft
House Area: 1700 sft
Location: Bangalore, Karnataka
Project Completion: July 2015
Photo credit: Kunal Bhatia (Studio KB)
Drawing credit: BetweenSpaces
Design Team: Divya Ethirajan, Pramod Jaiswal,
Reema Dhiman, Anagha, Kevin George
Interior Contractor: Rahul Associates
Structural Consultant: Kalkura Associates

This is an aerial view of the house showcasing the large white structure at the back, the red brick structure in front and the large black windows.

This is a street view of the house showcasing more of its black structure façade and the main entrance at the ground floor with a wide concrete driveway.

This is a close look at the front of the house with its white grills, garage gate and the large black structure on the upper levels with closed windows.

This is a close look at the front of the house with its white grills, garage gate and the large black structure on the upper levels with semi-open windows.

This is a close look at the front of the house with its white grills, garage gate and the large black structure on the upper levels with fully open windows.

This is a view of the large house from the vantage of the garage area with a look at its open windows in front, large red brick walls and a concrete staircase on the side.

This is a nighttime view of the house showcasing the areas in the interior that light up giving it a warm and welcoming look.

This is a closer look at the modern black window in front that contrasts the red brick wall on the side.

This is a close look at the living room with a gray sofa set, a dark coffee table and a blue area rug on the hardwood flooring.

This is a close look at the dining room that has a tall ceiling, a wooden rectangular dining table and matching upholstered chairs.

This is a look at the dining room from the vantage of the indoor balcony above it showcasing the large golden pendant light hanging over the dining table.

This is a close look at the study area on the far corner of the house with a built-in desk and shelf on the red brick wall by the glass windows.

This is another view of the study area with a focus on the folding glass windows that open the wall to the surrounding landscape.

On the other side of the room is this area with a lounge chair perfect for a reading nook brightened by the open wall.

The house has a library with built-in wooden bookshelves that match the hardwood flooring.

This is a close look at the landing and indoor balcony of the upper level bordered gray metal railings to match the railings of the stairs.

This is a corner of the house with a couple of wooden upholstered armchairs on the side of the wooden bookshelves with displays of art.

This is the home office with a couple of desks on opposite sides of the room flanking a large conference table in the middle brightened by the folding glass walls on the far side.

This is a look at the home office with its large conference table and desks complemented by the folding windows closed on the far side.

This is another look at the home office showcasing more of the conference table and the various wooden built-in structures on the sides and on the far side.

This is a closer look at the wooden conference table of the home office attached to the built-in wooden structure that has shelves and cabinets and serves as a divider.

This is the other side of the wooden divider of shelves and cabinet that has another office area with a couple of stations.

This is a close look at the staircase that has wooden cabinets and drawers underneath and glass railings on its side.

This is another look at the home office showcasing the proximity of the staircase to the built-in wooden structures.

This is a close look at the staircase showcasing the wooden cabinets and drawers underneath and the indoor balconies at the upper level.

This is a close look at the modern design of the concrete steps paired iwth a wooden wall on the far side and a glass railing across from it.

This is a close look at the built-in wooden structure on the side of the office with shelves and cabinets.

This is a closer look at the far corner desk with a built-in wooden shelf above and a red brick wall.

This is a close look at the indoor balcony looking over the office area and a walkway that leads to the terrace balcony.

This is an illustration of the house's lower level floor plan.

This is an illustration of the house's upper level floor plan.

This is an illustration of the house's cross section elevation showcasing the various sections of the house.

Built on a 30’x40’ North facing plot in the city of Bangalore, the program accommodates the Architects’ own house on the ground and first-floor level and her studio space on the upper two levels, with separate access to the studio in the North-East corner.

The spatial planning of the house is done in order to take maximum advantage of the uninterrupted view towards the tree-lined street on the northern side. Owing to the tight site condition and lack of privacy from the neighbor’s property, the two bedrooms in the SW corner open out into a double-height dining area with a clear story window for ventilation and a skylight above for natural light.

The two levels of the studio have been visually connected with a central cut out over the waiting area. The layout has been designed to facilitate an open studio culture, creating spaces that will encourage interactions between the team members and the principal architects. The entire width of the studio space on the Northern side has 10 work stations and has been interpreted as a covered veranda thinning the line between the inside and outside.

The north side 20’x8’ sliding aluminum glazed window with an external protective layer of perforated sheet shutter panels and sliding/folding mechanism allows natural light, view of the streetscape, and ventilation into the house and the studio space.

The project was an interesting exercise to understand how the building interacts with the street. The precast concrete fins enclosing a small garden on the NE corner and defining the entrance foyer bring the building closer to the street. The concrete fins, the wire cut brick walls in rat-trap bond, and the perforated metal sheet sliding folding shutters add certain ruggedness to the building and at the same time bring lightness into the structure.

The simple strategy of a single material (perforated sheet shutters) helped in achieving a very minimal yet dynamic façade. The interior design of the office space and the residence is an extension of the architectural aesthetics of the building and at every possible juncture; we have tried to keep the materials in their natural form as much as possible. The furniture units are more like objects kept in the foreground of the building shell from inside.

Locally procured wire cut and kiln burnt bricks, IPS flooring (in-studio levels), Yellow oxide flooring, granite stones have been used. The smooth two-toned laminate finish built-in furniture’s in the residence lay in pleasant contrast with the form finish concrete slabs, beams, and the unplastered brick walls.

In the office level, the two units on either side of the reception area demarcate the conference room in the SW corner and the studio space on the northern side. Both these units though physically separate the spaces, are visually porous and double as storages and bookshelves. The paneling to encase the pantry and printing area is done in pinewood over a ply base.

The space under the stairs going to the upper level has been utilized as the material library and server rack. The conference room has a deep unit with flat file drawers to store large drawing sheets and stationeries. The textures of the materials are always contradicting, yet tend to exhibit a certain sense of visual cohesion.

The sal wood posts accentuate the relatively bland and light grained finger jointed rubber wood planks. 4mm shadow gaps have been introduced between two layers of materials of the same or different kind adding a character to the surfaces. The upper floor which opens out to a terrace space has been left for future expansion.

Atypical to any design approach, the project displays a strong sense of desire to get away from the dogma of façade architecture by responding to our grass-root principles of keeping it simple, engaging, and blending material palette with a contemporary undertone. It is our attempt to get a slice of that borrowed landscape from the street and a slice of the sky for ourselves in the tight urban condition.