Area: 3700 sqft
Location: Bellary, Karnataka, INDIA
Duration of Construction: March ’14 to August ‘17
Cost of Project: Rs. 82,00,000 (Eighty Two Lakhs)
Project Team: Choudhury, Vijay Rai, Abhishek Pawar, Satyanarayan, Stefan Fernandes, Sachin Gujjar
Photograph Credits: Niveditaa Gupta

This is a close look at the front of the house with white structures, a white wrought iron gate and small windows.

This is a view of the side of the house with white exterior walls and small windows that stand out.

This is an interior view of the house showcasing the lush landscaping inside with various shrubs and vines.

This is a close look at a few windows with concrete structures making the windows stand out.

This is a view of the interio showcasing the geometric structure of the wrought iron staircase with frosted glass steps.

This is another view of the modern unique staircase adorned with trees and plants on the side.

This is an interior view of the upper level with hardwood flooring, lime yellow walls and colorful wall artworks that go well with the wrought-iron structures.

This is a close look at the landing that has a hardwood flooring and a glass wall that looks over the indoor garden.

This is the steel grill cover over the indoor garden that brings in natural light, ventilation and rain.

This is a close look at the exterior corner of the house with small concrete windows that stand out against the white exterior walls.

This is a close look at the exterior walls of the house contrasted by the gray concrete windows.

This view of the house shows a tall concrete fence on the outer area and a rooftop area above.

The house has a glass door that leads out into the indoor garden of the house that serves as a terrarium with direct sunlight from above.

On the side of the indoor garden is a reading area with a lounge chair and built-in bookshelves on the side.

This is another look at the reading area from the vantage of the staircase that has frosted glass steps.

This is the modern kitchen with pastel blue cabinetry on the walls paired with checkered patterns on its backsplash subway tiles.

The kitchen has a tall ceiling with an indoor balcony that has wrought iron railings.

This is the close look at the dining area with a large rectangular dining table surrounded by beige cushioned chairs.

This is a look at the living room area just a few steps from the dining area with a couple of colorful wall artwork.

The living room area also has a dark gray sofa topped with a dark brown tray ceiling contrasted by the bright beige walls.

This is a close look at the bedroom that has a patterned sheet on its bed complemented by the geometric patterns of the wall behind the headboard.

These elements of the bedroom are then brightened by the windows on the sides of the bed with shades to filter the natural lights.

This is a view of the indoor garden with an open ceiling that has grills and creeping vines and a glass wall on the side.

This is a closer looka t the reading area n the side of the indoor garden with a lounge chair by the built-in bookshelves.

This is a close look at one of the balconies of the house fitted with a comfortable chair to better enjoy the landscape.

This is a look up the staircase tha has geometric wrout iron railings and frosted glass steps and has a glass wall on one side.

This is a closer look at the unique design of the staircase that has wrought iron railings and frosted glass steps

This is the landing of the staircase that has a glass wall that looks out to the indoor garden of the house and lets in natural light.

This view of the front of the house shows an inclined concrete driveway leading to the car port of the house.

This nighttime view of the side of the house showcases the warm glow of the small windows giving the house a unique look.

This is an illustration of the first level floor plan.

This is an illustration of the ground level floor plan.

This is an illustration of the house's north elevation.

This is an illustration of the house's east elevation.

This is an illustration of the house's west elevation.

This is an illustration of the house's south elevation.

This is an illustration of the house's Section AA cross section elevation.

This is an illustration of the house's Section BB cross section elevation.

This is an illustration of the house's Section CC cross section elevation.

This is an illustration of the house's eastern spaces isolated.

This is an illustration of the house's eastern and western spaces isolated.

This is an illustration of the house's western spaces isolated.

The Bellary House is located in the small town of Bellary known for its Iron Ore mines, boulder landscape, historic ruins, and hot and dry climate.

The house is located in one of Bellary’s transforming neighborhoods, which is currently seeing a lot of the older modest houses give way to grander villas.

The house sits on a corner site on edge of this slow but steady transformation.

The site with its dimensions of 60 x 40 ft has its longer edge towards the busier west street and its quieter shorter edge towards the north street.

The house is designed to stave off the outside heat and create cool currents within it so as to form a convectional micro-climate. The outside walls wrap the house in this gesture of protection, pierced only with small and mass-produced precast concrete windows that dot this exterior. The windows are kept small with heavy eaves to keep away from the harsh sun.

An elevated garden is set in the northeast corner as a generator of this microclimate. It is kept open to the sky in the shadow of the sun to create currents that flow through the house, just like the light that reflects into the house of its cool surfaces. This Terrace garden is on a mezzanine level as its serves both the ground and the first floor with this generosity of spirit and soft textures.

The family is a small family of four (a couple with two children), with the grandparents having a room on the ground floor for when they visit.

The energy of the family and their generosity and simplicity is at the core of this house.
The spatial concept of the house was to elongate the experience of the house along the length of the site; to create ephemeral stretched-out memories along this length of laughter and fun, of busy-ness and lethargy, of daily rituals and ‘those special days.’

This length is opened up by lowering the east half of the house, by tucking in the car park, the helper’s room, stores, and the utility areas under it. The Terrace Garden, the Family Room, and the Kitchen line up north to south as the spaces along this length with a Bedroom coming at the southern end of this mezzanine.

The kitchen here is kept open as a cut out along this length to break certain traditional notions attached to it (especially where women folk disappear into), and also to allow for a more inclusive ‘family’ space.

The mezzanine becomes the catalyst in developing the spaces of this house, as it hovers in between the long and open living cum dining on the ground floor and the private bedrooms on the first floor. The low height scales down the house personalizes the gaze lines of interactions and dissolves the spaces as a gradation rather than a stack.

The mezzanine Bedroom is specially designed to ‘keep an eye’ on the old grandparents residing in the ground floor bedroom through a small courtyard which also serves as their ‘private’ garden, a light well, and a backdrop for Pooja / Temple.

The Western block of the house is more traditional in terms of the stack. The Entry has a skylight from which one sees the plants above, on entering the house. It leads to large and long Living and Dining space which becomes the more formal and grander part of the house. The grandparents’ bedroom is at the southern end of this block.

The upstairs houses two bedrooms in a row, with a long passage terminating towards the north in the Reading Space, which overlooks the Terrace Garden.

The House becomes more private every step one takes. The use of the volumes creates imaginary lines of division in public and private access sometimes contradicting the sense of openness it evokes.

The Bellary House is an attempt to invert small-town aspirations for big-city ideas. It rejects them by addressing space and the energy of a home in a primal way.