Project Area: 2800 sft
Project Contractor Team: Raghuram, Sri Aditya Constructions, Inder Woodworks, Saravanan Steel, Kwality Furnishings, Paarkhi Stone, Stencil, Studio Segments
The true nature of all earthly things is that of transience, everything and everyone is constantly changing, constantly evolving. What is, is and what will be, will be. Embracing this changing nature of the world is wabi-sabi, a worldview that emphasises simplicity, natural materials and the beauty of imperfection. Like they say it takes a wabi heart to recognise sabi beauty. Wabi is about recognising beauty in humble simplicity. Sabi is concerned with the passage of time, the way all things grow, age, and decay, and how it manifests itself beautifully in objects, contendedly. The 17th century Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto Japan, has had the profoundest impact on me, on a tsukubai (water basin) stone at the temple there’s an ancient inscription of four Chinese characters. These characters make no sense individually but when combined with the borders of the central square, they are read as “ware tada taru wo shiru,” which means “I only know plenty,” or “I only know contentment.” The meditative zen garden that it encloses and the rhythmic nature of drawing patterns on the white gravel becomes key to knowing oneself. Again two words inscribed on the greatest building of all time, the Parthenon, are “know thyself”. To understand the tenets of Wabi Sabi is to essentially know oneself.
Rooted in simplicity is this project located in the leafy bylanes of Bengaluru’s southern district, Jayanagar. With two beautiful gulmohars flanking the elevation, this home uses its facade as the perfect backdrop for the rustle of the gulmohar leaves in the fall, the striking red gulmohar flowers in spring and takes shelter under the shady branches of the gulmohars in the summer. A facade for all seasons, the white canvas is punctuated by two windows on the front looking out, offering a view of the trees and are also veiled by the branches of the tree to provide privacy from the road. The windows are kept wide and tall to bring in ventilation and allow for optimum day light levels, also keeping the energy use of the building in check. The windows are enclosed by a pronounced grill pattern that is more of a feature in the elevation than a security engagement. As the upper floor massing comes forward it is supported by two columns to create a semi-open verandah, a boon with the city’s precipitation levels. Into this stepped back verandah the stairway flurries down with a waterfall lattice to line one up to the upper level, where the home begins. The lattice work extends upwards to the terrace level and ends as a railing. The stairway stops on the first level into the entrance lobby with a shared access into the office room and the living room of the house.
The elk door knocker on the main door opens into the entry space that is flanked by the living room on the right and the dining space on the left. As the ceiling slabs cast are left exposed they are taped into each other with a petechiae of gold foil and paint just like in the broken pottery that are affixed with gold paste. Straight ahead is the foyer table, equipped with a pop-up library and an expansive abstract art work that is reminiscent of galloping horses. Inspired by the tones of the house, the art piece amasses the grey, white, black and gold hues of the living space. The alaskan white natural stone on the floor creates a cosmos in an endless carpet ride as one steps into the home. On this endless expanse of natural stone, solid wood furniture is placed mindfully in simple proportions and delicate ratios to create a form that is unified as a whole. The muted window dressings step back as the view brings forth the happenstance in the context. The living room is layered in light and seating, with a daybed swing, recliner sofas, straight sofas and a reading chair placed to create a warm environment. The centre table is supplanted by taller side tables all designed as an ode to a waterfall. These tables mimic the fall of water and are monoliths in sense, made of solid wood. The day bed designed at the precise proportions of five feet by five feet is calculated to the T to be ergonomically and anthropologically apt. The dynamic nature of the swinging daybed brings forth movement to the space and infuses a sense of laissez-faire, a feeling of calm that stems from all being well in this world. The feelings of accepting life, the way it is, the concept of being a lover of what is, is what the interior design concept endeavours to achieve. Into this living space, the white walls are paraded with a gorgeous periodic table, after all science is art, and an installation of eight deeply coloured squares from red to pink. The pop of colour at the far end of the living room wall is just the right amount of energy to liven up the space in style. Flanked to the left of the foyer space is the dining area, conceptualised with a square table, with chairs on two sides and the wooden bench seating on the other sides. This configuration of space entails a perfect setting for an eight seater, large in feel with the river white natural stone balanced on a cuboid in natural wood. The table dimensions are inspired by Charles Correa’s famous dining table in his Mumbai home. The river white natural stone of the dining table is different yet in tandem with the alaskan white of the floor. The dining table is off-setted by two cutlery cabinets at its two corners. None of the furniture in the living or dining spaces is kept above the waist level to create a feeling of spaciousness and with the walls in white, the desired effect is achieved. The walls are reserved for art or a view of nature, in a rare case, television! A curated stone and wood panelled hand wash is embedded into the walls of the dining space. This area is almost like the mood board of the house with its use of the natural elements of wood, stone and a mirror that reflects art or the great outdoors depending on the angle that it is seen from.
Leading out from the dining space is the kitchen, following the tenets of simplicity, the material palette is kept subtle, neutral with the continued colours of white, grainy wood and the tinge of glass with the profile shutters. The linear kitchen is loaded with storage cabinetry, the refrigerator and a sink on one side while the other side is kept light with the front window and a chimney above the linear counter space. The kitchen is extended out into a utility space for the rigmaroles of washing and cleaning. The floor to ceiling latticework allows for a shielded view of the outdoors. The living room extends onto the God’s room that also couples as the gymnasium of the house. This area is the meeting point of the two bedrooms, the master and the son’s room and also leads to the other side of the office room which is additionally connected to the lobby area of the entrance. While the master bedroom is lined in modern lines with a floor to ceiling wardrobe and the hints of lotuses in the decor, the son’s room is some what an ode to space in its subtleness. The master bedroom is a safe haven, as is the son’s room, tucked away from the front and more public parts of the house. The four post bed in the son’s room faces the toy station with a back end for tucking away the essentials and is the regulatory space station in the expanse of space. The toy station is positioned to facilitate easy access to the boy’s collection of toys, legos, books et al developing on the Montessori method of learning that he follows in school. On two sides of the bed, the side tables affix the location of the furniture in place. The bedroom is annexed by a walk-in-wardrobe that is planned to accommodate storage, again in the make of the solid wood, shutters and carcass all made like a monolith. The office room consists of the sensibilities of the architect, with its annex serving as a library and the assistant workspace. As a backdrop to the architect’s desk is the panel of shelving and a full size murphy bed enclosed within the solid wood structure hidden away behind the monolith. The desk is a custom designed table with storage hidden away and monogrammed in the letter V, the walls of the study are fashioned by an expansive sketch of the Chrysler building, a Stephen Wiltshire piece and the other a personal collection of paintings, sketches, photographs, awards and empanelment certificates to the Institute of Indian Interior Designers and the Indian Institute of Architects. The roman blinds in the study are again a monogrammed construct in pattern. This office has an expansive skylight, that allows natural light to flood the space in the day time and offers a spectacular view of the stars and during Diwali time, firecrackers, at night.
Rising like the phoenix from the old, the challenges the house posed were many in utilising the age-old wall-on-wall construction where each wall of the upper floor was built on the existing sixteen inch thick walls of the lower floors. Building and reconstructing a fifty year old house is no easy task and that staying on the construction site is absolutely no mean feat. But then thats what the dreams of six-year olds are made up off! The son has multiple times requested the workers to not finish early or on time for, “its so much fun to live on a construction site”. I’d say with the tenets of Vaastu considered, or not considered as the Vaastu guru said the ancient Indian building science does not apply on sites angled at a precise forty-five degrees, living on a construction site should be the architect’s dream process. For only through a twenty-four hour sun cycle, 28 day moon cycle and almost a year of season cycle would one know what the site desires to be, as the Greeks say. And architects, like the ancient architects did, would do better to listen to the site, for that’s the best way to architect the world, to be literally a site-whisperer. The ancient Greeks believed and I agree that the architect needs to be a site-whisperer, developing a deep and unwavering connection with the site, its context and how the natural elements play out on it, the sun, the wind, the earth and the space. They say that an architect’s house is never complete, but after exploring seventy-two options to finalise upon this one, and collaborating with the labour force from the civil to the artists, I’d say this one house and architect, is pretty much done!
Vedasri Siddamsetty 