The Long House

The design seeks to successfully negotiate the linearity of its site (120 ft. x 70 ft.) effectively, and to preserve an existing bamboo plantation on its northeast. While contextually responding to the site and the climate of Bangalore, the house proposes an exciting dialogue with the public street on its south as well as a private garden to its north.

Programmatically there is an intentional demarcation between public vs. private spaces. The ground floor has mostly public spaces such as living, dining, den, study, kitchen, utilities as well as a guest room and the upper floor has 3 private bedrooms and a family room.

Entry to the house is via a sculpted brick coloured wall and into a foyer that frames a temple tree afloat a linear blue water body. A linear succession of spaces unfolds to the east of the foyer, spatially flowing into one another and finally culminating into a long verandah that overlooks the north garden and bamboo grove.

West of the foyer is a generous sky- lit double height volume with a mild steel and timber staircase floating gently within its surrounding volume.

One of the most exciting interventions has been the customization working with the masons and carpenters. Certain vertical planes of the house were cast in ribbed textured concrete. Special care was taken during construction in the repetitive wedge shaped timber shuttering to achieve seamless joints once the concrete was poured. The same shuttering timber is successfully recycled in the long verandah as well as the underside of the sloped roofs as timber cladding.

The material usage is minimal. Polished beige marble, grey Kota stone, local sadharhalli granite and polished cement are juxtaposed with the warmth of timber, and ribbed teak roof cladding.