City: BENGALURU

NAME OF THE PROJECT: Sheela Jain Residence

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT:

The site is a 2400 sqft plot with access road in the north and is located in gundelpet, a small town close to Mysore. The surrounding rural landscape here is giving way to, enigmatic developments and placeless structures inspired by urban imagery. The process was to look at these conditions and evolve a form that maintains a sense of continuum with the idea of place without resorting to mimicking the old. The brief described a three bed room house which can accommodate 2 families and a social lifestyle.

The program when blocked occupies the entire lower level. Two volumes are subtracted from this and is moved to the upper level. One of the open space is seen as car port which is sheltered from the top by reclaiming the space at the upper level.the other is a open to sky court yard located towards the rear, this space is seen as an anchor around which the organization works. Morphologically speaking courtyard and open spaces continues to be relevant socially and climatically in our context. Our idea was to look at it not as a open residue as it happens in most of the 2400 sft plots but as a valuable space which enlivens the experience. Here the spaces recede from the street edge to orient the spaces towards the rear courtyard, which is seen as an extension to the other spaces at the lower level. This level houses the living room, dining, kitchen and the master bedroom. The master bedroom and the living both open out to the rear court. There is also the sheltered open space which is used as a parking space which doubles up as extension to the living room during social events.

The living and dining spaces are double height volumes maintains links with the upper levels. The upper level houses two more bedrooms and a family. Here one of the rooms acts as multipurpose space when the sliding door which forms one of its walls opens to combine with family. The strategically located double heights helps in focusing the experience towards the interiority of the house. The movement through the house is orchestrated through subtle manipulation of levels which leads on to a sculptural staircase and then on to the first floor through the dining. The stair continues on to lead one on to the terrace which serves as a nice break out space and also as an effective utility space in context of Indian lifestyles .Here terrace is often used to dry food items, fly kites or even used as alternative sleeping spaces in summer.

The volumes are animated by light which is filtered through strategically located openings and shading devices which are created out of weatherproofing clay tiles engineered as baffles. They are used vertically and horizontally to form surfaces lending privacy while delivering filtered light, as a result the facade is about the textural surface highlighting the introverted nature of the house. This idea which is a result of orienting the spaces towards the interiors rather than the street or outside critically acknowledges changing structure of the town and the loss of vibrancy generated in the earlier tightly knit streets.

The structure is RCC frame with brick infill. Rainwater harvesting and solar heating strategies cuts down on the fresh water and the energy needs. Familiar palette of materials in rural landscape like brick, cuddapah,terra-cotta tiles, cement plastered and paved surfaces along with wood adds to the experiential dimension as they are used in unfamiliar ways. This aspect of recasting contributes to the evolving nature of the landscape while maintaining tactile links to the place.

Name & Location: Residence for Mr. Avinash

Cost of Project: (INR) 3.15 crores

Built-up area: 6,500 sft
(In case of Public Building minimum built-up area should be 1000 sq. meter)

Description of Project:

Avinash’s residence is a house defined by walls with a design concept from parallel lines leading to parallel walls defining each space. This 80’x120′ site is located within a gated community with an abundance of tall silver oak trees streaming sunlight in vertical shafts. The entire house feels like a pavilion framing views to the inside and views of the outside. Arrangement of the wall frames ensures a landscaped space at every juncture rather than a frontyard and backyard. This ensures a continuous uninterrupted flow of landscape. The house is zoned into 3 levels with the entry level mainly for common spaces (living, dining, kitchen, pooja area) along with a guest room. The living & dining area are double heighted with large skylights provided to allow natural light within the house. The spacing of the pergolas in these skylights is such that it allows only vertical light to enter while restricting angular light. This level also has a mezzanine floor with a family space along with the parent’s room. The first floor accommodates the master & son’s bedroom, a study area and a home theatre. The third level includes a gym cum Jacuzzi area which opens up to a landscaped terrace with lots of seating spaces. Provision has been made for a rotating panel mounted TV which can be viewed either from the gym or terrace as per need.

Materials of Construction Details:

The residence is a complete RCC frame structure with teak wood work marking the interiors. The main highlight being the front and rear side of the building completed with clear glass capturing the silver oaks tree view. The interior was completely conceived as a white space, which led to the use of materials like white marble for the flooring and storage shutters made of white corian with the only contrasting features of inner and external greenscapes.

Special Features:

The main idea of the design was based on a thickened wall frame that accommodates the utilities and requirements of the space. A continuous length of this when placed along the site could take on not just the role of structure and physical demarcation but owing to their depth could take on additional activities which would normally intrude into a space such as – wardrobes, kitchen and bathroom counters, ducts, electrical panels, study tables, stairs, seats etc. A series of these frames were then placed parallel to the length of the site creating the spaces required in a residence. Additionally, all utilities required for the functioning of these spaces were already planned within the thickness of the frames, thus clearing the area between them of any clutter. For eg; in a bedroom, all wardrobes, study tables, TV ledges, etc are part of the frame while the bed is the only element that to retain the visual clarity of these frames, all perpendicular planes are in glass which provides the basic requirement of keeping dust and noise out.

 

RVCE CAMPUS CAFE

PROJECT DETAILS

a) Built-Up Area: 3820 SqM

b) Site Area: 1.5 Acres

b) Project Duration: 2013 to 2015

c) Project Cost: Rs.3.5 Crores

d) Structural Engineer: M/s Arun Associates

e) Associated Architects: Ar Dharmjit Kak, Ar Snehal Panicker

f) Contractors: M/s K K Constructions

e) Elect. Contractor: M/s K K Constructions

f) Landscaping Contractor: M/s K K Constructions

PROJECT BRIEF

The Client M/s R.S.S Trust had a requirement for a modern canteen for their Engineering College, located on Mysore road, Bangalore. The Structure needed to serve about 3000 meals per day and also serve as an inviting location for students who bring their own home cooled meals to sit down and eat with their mates.

The site allocated on the 50 Acre campus was near a river bank which had deteriorated into sewage drain carrying effluents from nearby settlements. This was once a river called Vrishabhavati, alas no more.

The space had to be attractive to the young students and also serve as common meeting point for some cultural activities.

CONCEPT & DESIGN

Upon visiting the site ,there was a large tree which served as a focal point of the design.The spaces were conceived as an envelope around the tree and creating relief spaces apart from the Canteen which we now converted to a ‘FOOD COURT/CAFÉ’. The formal dining zone was visually opened out towards the greenery around the focal point which was the tree!!

The inclined roof structure was conceived to be opened out towards the landscaped court which had the focal tree. Shops for refreshments were arranged in a circular fashion to create the envelope and also shield the space from the foul smelling river.

Various covered zones with built in furniture were created to invite the students to dine outdoors and enjoy the Bangalore weather. A mezzanine was introduced for the staff to dine .The mezzanine projected over the dining area as break in the otherwise large volume which was the dining area.

We had proposed that we could recycle the food wastes and generate Bio-Gas which could be used in cooking at the Café. Thereby reducing the environmental footprint of the building and also prevent garbage problems. This is being considered by the management committee.

MATERIAL PALLETE

The Café is a composite structure with a RCC structure forming the service zones and Kitchen areas. The Dining area is roofed over by a metal structure with metal columns exteneding into the landscape. The ‘Skin’ of the metal structure is made from metal and wired glass lewers to allow for maximum light and ventilation.

The Flooring is is integrated into the furniture design with the granite flooring pattern rising up from the floors and forming fixed table. Jaisalmer stone is the base material and granites provide the contrast.

Vibrant colours are used to infuse energy into the space and also from the Natural elements within the envelope.

DATE:10 May 2017

Name & Location: Out of the Box, Private Residence

Description of Project:

The 1200 sqft corner site presented us with the classic urban scenario.

The site was abutted by houses on two sides and flanked by low income housing on the other two sides. The question thus posed to us was, “What would be the relationship of the dwelling to the outside?”

The stand taken by us was to incorporate the ‘outside’ inside while the building shuns the surroundings. A classic diagram of this would be the traditional courtyard house. Taking this classic diagram we moved the court to the corner to create new spatial and formal effects. By moving the court to the fourth quadrant of this square we could magnify the boundaries of each program flanking the court i.e. the living room, the dining and the bedrooms would not only feel much bigger but also would have sectional relationship with the open to sky court.

The court is further articulated by placing a sculptural element that would serve as an informal dining area as well as a tub for housing a tree.

The jali wall cast in-situ completes the fourth corner to accentuate the experience of the court.

Materials of Construction Details:

The idea of the elevation was to have a customized jali wall with a pattern of openings which fade away to form the platonic cube. A fiber glass mould of size 600×600 was made to cast the concrete blocks; the thickness of this block was 100mm.

The mould had a set of 4 oval openings, these openings were then filled up according to the pattern, to achieve the desired variation.

The tiles were stacked up like a conventional brick wall to construct the wall. These tiles were reinforced with metal flats which run through and through to ensure stability.

Special Features:

Above mentioned elevation to address a tight urban site.

Corner open-to-sky court – Every programmatic space opens into this, this way every space seems bigger and better.

Garden sculpture – this was made in brick and cement. The sculpture houses a tree and extends to form a table for four.

Thus the building while negates the outside environment simultaneously houses the ‘outside’ inside.