Situated in Eagleton Golf Village about 40 kilometres from the city of Bangalore, the space was created with the intent of acting as a weekend getaway retreat for a client and his extended family, where it would behave as a much needed respite from the hustle and bustle of regular city life.
The brief was to create a simple, minimalist, low maintenance home that would be used by the client and his extended family to spend weekends and entertain friends. Being a holiday home, the place would be uninhabited for extended periods of time, so low maintenance was a key factor, in planning and configuring the space.
The requirement for a pitched roof for all homes in the golf village, gave us an opportunity to explore the idea of having a simple plan with a large volume. The inclined roof thereby accommodates the kid’s sleeping loft, the living, cooking and an informal diTning area in one large double heighted volume.

TROPICAL MODERNISM
Locally sourced materials like rubble stone, concrete and metal were used for the construction. Walls were hand plastered, and bedrooms have jack-arch roofs that have been left un-plastered. The material use along with the clean lines of the building evokes a sense of tranquility. The living area is one large, open space with a free-standing kitchen unit in the centre of the space. A movable breakfast table and stools complement it. The space is open to the outdoors on three sides with floor to ceiling glass, which can be opened up to connect to the outdoor verandah and garden, and eliminates the need for air conditioning. The glass lets in abundant natural light. An outdoor dining space has been planned to take advantage of the salubrious local climate.

The furniture is sparse but functional and can all be moved when the family hosts large gatherings. The verandah has a series of antique columns sourced from a nearby site and reused here. The column brackets form the base for the coffee table.

The landscape is allowed to overrun the space and is not manicured. Boulders excavated at site are placed near the entrance door as a sculptural feature

THE ROOF
The pitched roof was conceived and detailed over a series of iterations of a scale model. The thin lightweight roof is made of sandwiched polystyrene panels with a layer of asphalt shingles on top. The panels are fixed on a metal framework and supported on metal columns.

STANDALONE KITCHEN
The kitchen was conceived as a standalone unit, almost as a block for space definition. This in turn helps in maximising the openness between the living, the dining and the verandah outside.The kitchen block was supposed to induce a sculpture like visual interest within a rather simple setting and hence a teal colour was chosen. Athangudi tiles on the counter backsplash also add to this unconventional setup.

All the kitchen appliances are concealed to keep the idea of an almost monolithic block intact.