A 33,000 Sq.Ft. Multi-Generational Luxury Courtyard Home in Bengaluru! (House Tour)

True luxury is to be able to live in a space that feels like a holiday. Every once in a while, we look for spaces that kind of allows us to relax. One of the biggest challenges was to create a space which is serene in an environment which is quite busy. Hello everyone, I'm Vishwas Venkat, principal architect and founding partner at Crest. For detailed chapters and PDF ebook, visit buildafy.com. So the plot is about 12,000 square feet and the buildup is about 30,000 square feet. So the client were basically two brothers who are living in a joint family. They've lived together for decades. So they wanted bigger spaces and the requirement grew. And so when they approached us, they wanted two individual houses. So we didn't really want to split them apart because it's very rare that we find joint families in today's time. So this is an east-facing plot. What we've done is we've pushed the gate a little inside so that the ongoing traffic is not obstructed. And so even any visitors or guests come in, they can easily be dropped off. The stilt basically houses the car park and other services. We have two lift lobbies, each one leading to the individual homes. So this is the entry to the house. So we have a series of steps that is placed above the water body. And so the first flight is basically common to both the houses. And then there's a mid-landing and then one flight leads to the elder brother's house and the other flight leads to the younger brother's house. So coming to the ground floor, so this is a 20 feet main door, the double height entry. So as soon as you enter the main door, you're welcomed by a formal living space. And there's a nice concrete wall that is basically supporting the swimming pool above. And the puja room has a very interesting detail wherein there are freestanding walls happening on either sides that kind of becomes a sculptural element by itself. So as you come into the dining space, you have another sculptural element of the powder room and hand wash, which kind of separates the dining from the kitchen. So we have an eight feet cantilever mirror, which is completely suspended from the wall on the side. And then as you continue further, so we have the informal living of this house, which faces the informal living of the other house. And it is strategically positioned such that, you know, the connectivity is always built. The very interesting feature here is the staircase. Staircase is basically inspired by the spine, the vertebra. Another main feature here is this floating floor that's basically suspended from the top. The reason we've done that is to ensure that there is ample space without any obstruction. So this is the grandmother's room. So the grandmother's room we've detailed out in such a way that even when she is, you know, lying on the bed, she has an uninterrupted view of the landscape. So we have an interesting floating wall detailed out with a glass opening below. So both these houses are divided by a water body that continues from this front and goes around the courtyard and continues towards the rear side as well. And each of these spaces kind of opens out into the courtyard from different angles. And a very interesting feature is the tree that we've got it transplanted right at the centre of the house. So this is a tree called Kadamba. So since the courtyard is on the stilt, the soil fill depth is very shallow and since we will not be able to accommodate a fully grown tree, we created a cutout in the centre of the courtyard and which allows the tree to be positioned and at the same time lets in natural light into the stilt as well. So on the first floor, southwest corner, we have one of the son's bedroom which has a private garden. Also this house has a shower which has a double height which is open to sky. The younger son's room is situated in the front which has a beautiful view to the rest of the house. So this room has a very interesting detail. So the younger son's room had a deep beam that was running across which is actually supporting the pool. So if we had done a normal flat false ceiling, it would reduce the overall volume. So we came up with an interesting detail which kind of looks like a wave. So that kind of covers the beam and yet retains the volume of the space. Coming to the younger brother's house which is on the eastern side of the property. So here what we have tried to do is we have kept the formal living away from the rest of the informal spaces such that it gives a sense of privacy but yet we have also ensured that the formal living also opens out to the courtyard and has a view of that. So again an interesting feature of this space is the puja room which is basically a floating puja. The informal living and the dining and kitchen is stacked linearly such that the whole space is experienced together. Here we have an 18ft high sliding door which completely opens out and the courtyard can be experienced while sitting in the informal living as well. So here we have a master bedroom happening again in the southwest corner. So this master bedroom directly opens out to the courtyard. The backdrop of the staircase is the wall that is splitting apart and the staircase is basically trying to stitch it together. As you come up the first floor you have the study and a small family living space. So we have two sons bedroom happening on this floor as well. So this is one of the sons bedroom. So here we have made it a double height bedroom so we have given a skylight above. This is a monolithic marble wall which is another interesting detail of this bedroom which separates the dresser and the bedroom. Coming to the last floor, so basically it is a recreational floor which is common to both the houses. It houses the swimming pool, an activity area, a gym and home theatre. So another interesting feature is the roof which spans right across which is about 130ft. It has a very interesting detail wherein you don't see the support from the outside. It kind of looks like it is completely floating. So the clients were very clear that they want posh spaces and they were one of the very passionate clients who allowed us to explore in terms of materiality. So we have used various types of marble here and whereas the flooring is predominantly in white Michelangelo and contrasted with black marquina. It is a beautiful combination. It flows right through the house. Marble is a beautiful material so we are very specific when it comes to our selections of marble. So whereas when we are using it in walls or any other surfaces, we would also explore more interesting patterns. For the facade, we mainly used a combination of black granite and wood as a strong element which complements the landscape. The house is basically designed for multi-generation. We try to keep the spaces timeless. Even the interior aesthetics and the overall feel of the space is more about how the light comes in and how the volumes of the space play out with each other. Basically how the connect between the various spaces is established.