From Shravan Pradeep
Brief:
Situated in a gated community 388 RBD was a 20-year-old, 4-bedroom bungalow purchased by the clients who wanted it rejuvenated to suit their life-style. The 4000 sqft house was split across two floor with a small servant room at the terrace level.
Concept:
The idea was to remodel the existing house to bring its occupants in close contact with nature, creating larger openings to brighten up the interior spaces. Spaces like the terrace and veranda further helped in blurring the lines between the indoor and outdoor.
Constraints such as cost, substandard quality of the load bearing structure and the materials used by the previous owner tightened the budget further while the challenge remained to recreate luxury spaces with natural materials.
Kota stone flooring was adopted for all the common areas whereas the private spaces namely the bedrooms were floored with Athangudi tiles.
Design Interventions:
Main Entrance: The main entrance into the house was re-oriented to accommodate for a secondary pedestrian pathway. This allowed for a separate vehicular/ home - office entry into the house without disturbing the occupants. A waterbody was added to accentuate the entrance pathway, and additionally provided privacy to the living room garden.
Mezzanine: The dining room was a double height space with a skylight. A mezzanine was plugged into the volume, overlooking the dining space, which would function as a study or a quiet space for one to sip a drink while enjoying the view of the tree cover through the skylight, accessed from the first floor.
Terrace: The terrace on the first floor was to double up as an informal living area and an extension to the family room to entertain friends. An existing window in the wall between the family room and terrace was widened and converted into a bar using the old main-door placed horizontally. The inner surface of the counter was covered in Colourful Handmade Indian Ceramic tiles to serve as a countertop.
Blue oxide benches were cast on site and the woman of the house wanted to be able to lie on these benches and view the stars at night. A rainwater gutter was added that framed the terrace and the view of the sky apart from channelling the rainwater from the sloping roof above.
Others:
The other interventions included a patio addition to the ground floor master bedroom, a cut out in the roof of the veranda to bring in more light into the living room, a bay window added to the master bedroom on the first floor overlooking the terrace and a facelift of all the bathrooms.
Overall, the house is a simple demonstration to recreate, re-use and reimagine spaces which come together to constitute a simple home for a family of three.