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Hailing from Saudi, the client’s aspiration was to have a family/holiday home close to his ancestral roots. The design brief for the house had stories from his formative years driving past the old brick factories with chimneys poking above the coconut trees. And those of red-oxide flooring and lime plaster-finished walls which keep the house refreshingly cool. To put it together, this family house should evoke memories of the past while keeping the design unique and aesthetically modern.
A corner plot nestled between neighboring buildings, the only view from the plot was of the sparsely spaced existing trees of the neighbor’s plot. Considering various factors like privacy & visual buffers an inward-looking plan was formulated and designed in several layers. Deriving qualities from a “Thotti Mane” (Courtyard House) the varied courts are intercepted in multiple levels and volumes. The courts responded to the qualities of the sky, the light filtering through the brick screens or even allowing a soft breeze to pass through. Staggering of courts also allowed all the residents to either enjoy an extended court outside the private areas or open into it. The sun-lit staircase connecting all the levels is sculptural and experiential with each elevation.
The experiential qualities of bricks were part of our early client conversations. The façade is layered in bricks course by course as each of them had a different angle. Using local stones, negating painted walls and using natural pigments in the plaster contributed to lower the embodied footprint. Passive design strategies and planning principles were involved to ensure uninterrupted cross-ventilation in all the areas.The staircase core and courts at different levels ensured stack ventilation and reducing the dependability on artificial cooling. The building skin is constructed in layers ensuring the ambient interior temperature is maintained. Light filtering through the brick jalis akin to the light filtering through the leaves added to the dynamic nature of the interiors.
The brick house reflects one’s thoughts and beliefs, it holds a lot of aspirational values along with the ability to evoke memories of the past. Often the built and insides do not have cohesion with many aspects being lost in translation. The Brick house is designed “outside-in”. With the materiality of the façade being reflected in the interiors, one is flown in the harmony of spaces. The interiors were very much planned with the façade, making it true to its form. The angled windows are planned around the wind and sun studies also ensuring the connection with the outside while also providing necessary screening from the adjoining developments. The design actively engages multiple layers revolving around designing and the idea of story telling. We explored alternate solutions redefining paradigms of design language to evoke memories of the past while keeping the design unique and aesthetically modern. With lateral thinking and changing the way people engage with architecture of the future can address the challenges experienced not just in terms of climate change but several other factors.
This project was an inward journey, one that involved us developing a personal connect with the materials, understanding their nuances & exploring ways to experiment with them. The surfaces with brick courses, textured cement plastering on double and triple height walls and unifying black stone flooring have evolved though the design. The effect of light on the surfaces from varied volumes is an experience that is varied through the day making each of this a memorable part of our daily life
Established in 2011 in Bengaluru, The Purple Ink Studio is a multifaceted architecture practice that is Young, Experimental and Ambitious. Conceived by Aditi Pai & Akshay Heranjal along with Nishita Bhatia & Arpita Pai, the Studio has grown into a Collaborative Practice, with a group of designers who bring varied skillsets to the process.
The Practice believes in an approach that is Layered, Contextual and Experimental in Nature. The studio is exploring various scales and typologies with a constant search to engineer new ways of blurring the boundaries between architecture & landscape. Every project undertaken is process-driven by a close-knit team that see the project through in its totality.
In less than a decade, the studio has gained recognition worldwide by winning numerous National & International Awards. Works of the studio are extensively published both in digital and print media. The Studio has won 7 International Awards, 16 Indian Awards and 15 Shortlists in the last decade
