A home is as much a part of the family as any other member, with a personality of its own while it efficiently houses them. Greyscale conceived the persona of “Brickly Affair” as an introvert with an expanding and evolving mindscape within it and an indispensable interface with the environment.
Project Name: Brickly Affair
Studio Name: Greyscale Design Studio LLP
Design Team: Girish Mysore , Sanjay Kumar , Magesh Manohar , Ninu Ahluwalia
Site size : 40ft X 60ft
Built up Area:3500 sq.ft
Year:2020
Location: Bengaluru,Karnataka
Consultants: R & J Structural Consultant
Photography Credits: Anand Jaju
Contractor : Neralu Constructions
The double height court, the garden on the east façade enclosed by the brick Jali and the strategically incorporated windows allow for sufficient connect with the elements of nature such a wind, light and rain yet ensuring the privacy of the family. The house has an open plan with volumes of varying heights of all the common areas such as the living, dining and kitchen, bound around the open-to-sky courtyard. The varying volumes, textures and the play of light lends a distinct quality to each space and affords interconnections across the house.
NAVIGATING THE HOUSE:
“Bricks lead the way” While on the street, it is the brick jali volume at the first floor, that would anchor your interest and draw you close. Once you enter the premise, you would be greeted by a refreshing patch of greenery, while another brick wall would enticingly lead you to the entrance of the house on the first floor, where there is another patch of garden: Every pause along this navigation, is punctuated with greenery which complements the material palette in revitalizing and humanizing the spaces. You enter the living room and soon find yourself gravitating towards the double height, open-to-sky court which floods the home with light.
An exploratory affair with the bricks began at site with an intent to accentuate and unify the material palette of the house with the use of bricks in diverse ways. Various permutations and combinations of the angular brick lattice were worked out to infuse a breath of fresh air into the house, yet ensuring privacy from the street. The heightened volume over the dining naturally leads you to the single flight, featuring a staircase in raw mild steel.
The Living room inducts light across the west window, filtering the harshness through the extended garden. All the private rooms at the upper floor open up to the court with louvered windows, furnished with built-in window seaters. A family that believes is sharing their spaces, Blurring the boundaries of utilitarian and aesthetic intent of elements, some of them double up to serve more than one function. Built-in cots, window sill seaters & extended gardens, parapet shelves etc are just some of them.
The staircase and the adjacent railing design accommodates a library with a collection of books and art. The material palette is raw and rendered unadorned with a crisp composition lending the home a contemporary urban aesthetic, consciously moving away from being too rustic. This has helped us add an enriched and unique tactile experience to the house with exposed Brick cladding and jaali, oxide finish, mud plaster, leather finished kota stone, mosaic and bare mild steel.
As a conscious effort to reduce the impact of the building on the environment, passive cooling techniques such as the rat-trap bond, terracotta tile filler slabs and country tiles for the roofing were adopted. Sustainability is an attitude and “Way of Life” and the contribution of individual homes can have a huge impact. Various energy saving systems such as solar water-heating, generation of electricity, Rain Water harvesting, provision for composting have been integrated in design.
One can never dissociate from nostalgia with one’s home. The design envisaged Brickly Affair as a tangible expression of the invisible canvas on which the family paints their experiences and memories that they create in the years to come.
Creative writer: Megala Gurumurthi
An architect who dabbles with wordplay and poetry when not engaged in the visual medium for explorations. She endeavors to contribute to the larger canopy of architecture’s influence through academia, active research, innovation and collaboration with professionals from related fields.
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