House with a Traditional Chettinad Courtyard Between 2 Trees in Bengaluru | Technoarchitecture

We try to bridge an experience for the client between nature and trying to get in harmony with it and also live the experience all through generations to come. And between two trees is the next step towards it. So the site is located in the upscale market of Bangalore, it's in Jainagar 4th block. Primarily the site has a dimension of 45 feet on the south side and then a 90 feet in depth. Now as I entered the site, the initial brief given by the client was they wanted a house for a five bedroom living conditions, basically spanned for three generations. So the first thing when I entered the site or probably saw the site myself, I was actually surprised to see two massive African tulip trees. This was a south facing site and then we had to have the tree to cut off the heat from the south side. So the first attempt was to retain the trees since it's a skewed site, you know, so we have to take care of the Vastu conditions which was very important. So first thing what we try to do is we look at something called as a Vastu correction line. So that's primarily trying to get the entire site in a rectangle form and actually knock off the entire extra areas which were against the Vastu principles. So the site condition was such that the west side we had an apartment which is about G plus five floors. So the first attempt was the entire west side was screened off in such a way that we had minimal openings or no openings at all. So for the main concern that one is the privacy and also we had to keep the bare minimum setbacks in mind, we decided the trees to be the focal point into the entire building. So the trees in a way became an entrance gateway to the building. So as you enter, you are invited by a beautiful garden area where you walk through the space. And then once you walk in into this space, you have a small foyer, then we have an east facing main door. So we have created a formal living space. So the left side of the grid, we've got the service core, that's where you have your lift and the staircase situated. And then of course, the southwest corner had a small bedroom, which could be doubled up as a guest bedroom or a parent's room. And then as you move in, that's where we created the so called USP of the house, which was a small courtyard, internal courtyard with a Nandi statue, which was one of the most important aspect for the client. From the courtyard, the Nandi courtyard, you move to the left, you get the dining space, which we were able to create a beautiful double light effect. And then from there, you move towards the southeast corner, you have a dry kitchen. Now from the courtyard, you move further in, so you have a informal family space. And then from the family, you move out in the extreme corner of the northeast quadrant, we've kind of put the puja space here. We've kind of aligned the puja room a little skewed with respect to the site condition because the angle of the puja room, which is tilted here is exactly the orientation to the east. So the entire puja room sits at an angle as mentioned. So this became a focal point with landscape surrounding all around. And then the extreme northeast corner, we have a beautiful water body, which is also good for vastu and also it's open to sky. From the main courtyard, now you have an access which goes out to a common sit out area. So to capture maximum east light coming into the house in the morning. And of course, you know, we've kind of created a little bit of barricade with plants on this edge so that, you know, the neighbor's property is slightly cut off and then we have our desired privacy levels. Now as we move on to the first floor, so that's bedroom number one, bedroom number two flanked by its own walk-in wardrobes and toilets sitting here. And then we created a family space and then we move on to the Nandi statue courtyard, which again becomes a double height all the way to the skylight on the top. And then as I mentioned earlier, the dining becomes a beautiful double height where this becomes the core area of movement as a bridge. And then the master bedroom sits here. And the master bedroom has its own private balcony overlooking the two big trees in the front. So the master bedroom overlooks into a beautiful landscape court here because even this is flanked by a tropical theme, the tropical landscape of Bali architecture. Now even if they are sitting at this floor, the complete view from the street is cut off. So as we move towards the second floor, so we have just positioned one master bedroom, which is for the son, which has an attached sit-out in an L form. Then here we have a 20 feet roof overhang. So that we felt, you know, was an extremely important thing because, you know, being the last floor, the entire roof could get heated up. So the whole idea was to get an extension of the slab in MS structure and then clad it with Ipe wood, whereas the rest of the area at the back was simply left open for some kind of a future expansion or services related activities at a later date. This is the son's bedroom. The son also has a private balcony, you know, and then from the balcony, he overlooks into the top level from the second floor to the first floor. So there is always a dialogue, there is always an interaction between the family members. Now each and every floor, what we try to do is, we have kept a minimum of 12 feet. So now the Nandi statue sits perfectly on a platform. We've kind of got a phenomenal skylight, which is almost like 8 feet by 8 feet. And then that skylight gets in natural light. So at every given point of time, the sun angle changes and then the same kind of patterns fall on the Nandi statue, creating a vibrant space, which is brightly lit all throughout the day. So when we come to the elevation, which is the south facade, the whole idea was to create a form respecting nature and also cutting the entire building from the harsh sunlight from the south area. We've kind of played with an absolute clean cut geometric forms because we didn't want anything altering the main program from what the client had given. And also the basic principles of Vastu, where all the degrees and angles have to be 90 degrees. So we've kind of juxtaposed the whole massing in such a way that there's a lot of cantilevers and extensions into the slab. And also when you do that, we kind of get our own shadows and play. The main important focus was we have tried to scoop out this volume in one corner of the southeast area and that from there you're able to capture the tree so beautifully that the tree branches in a way kind of pierce through the building so that it feels like we have planted the tree and then or the house was designed around the tree. Now coming to the materials itself. So what we are trying to do is we've kept it very neutral. It is going to be Ipe wooden cladding, which is purely meant for exterior cladding. And also all the walls what you see is minimal and also finished with exposed concrete, which is in grey and white cement. And the common factor between these two materials are landscape itself. The kind of locations of the windows and doors are positioned in such a way that they don't have to put on the AC for a long time and predominantly that they don't have to put on the AC at all for the simple reason that, you know, the windows are positioned in such a way that, you know, you get a lot of cross ventilation happening within the property. So we try to keep the material palette very simple, very clean and very, very neutral. So we have tried to ponder upon materials like Jaisalmer marble, which was extensively used throughout the floor. And we also clubbed the rich Jaisalmer marble with Kota stone, which was extensively used in the staircase area. So when you talk about, let's say a master bedroom in the first floor, we've used exposed micro concrete for the entire floor, which is polished. And then, you know, we had a background for the bed, which is a poster bed in cotton steel. So the combination was so strong that even the bathrooms also related the same materials where you've kind of used Kota stone and Jaisalmer marble in the bathroom in the first floor. Whereas you go to the second floor, you have the son's room, which was again finished with a neutral palette again with wooden floor and cement concrete. The same material palette ran through into the bathroom as well. One interesting part of the son's room was we kind of used a brick, an exposed brick, you know, in a zigzag form, which was actually inclined, cut and inclined in such a way that became a focal point of the bathroom. Firstly, when the client came to us, I mean, he and his family loves the Bali architecture. So the primary concern was how do you integrate a Bali kind of a style in the context of Bangalore in India. So in order to get the Balinese vibe into this house, so we've kind of touched upon two main core elements. One is the landscape was of true importance in the house. And second thing is, since the client was very, very keen on having a Bali kind of a theme here, because we personally went to Bali, handpicked a lot of stuff, be it the artifacts or the furniture or even the wall art from there, which was carefully designed and placed in its appropriate locations so that it blends in perfectly with the theme. And also the furniture was kept to a neutral theme in solid teakwood, because that's again a primarily concern of a Bali style. And also the furniture was more or less locally sourced from local artisans here. When you have these kind, you know, I think you should not let go of these, you know, you should respect nature, make sure you retain every single part of nature in the building and create something as beautiful as Between Two Trees.