Bangalore Houzz: This Home Celebrates Light, Brick & Floating Balconies

Taking note of the vernacular architecture of Kerala, the architects zeroed in on a few of its key features, such as “verandahs that wrap around living spaces, the appearance of a heavy masonry base on the ground floor, with thick arches and carved columns, and a first floor which appears in a lighter material palette and overall treatment.” These elements inspired the facade of the building.

Two sides of this structure are covered in exposed brickwork walls that gently come outwards to meet the windows in the middle. This effect is achieved by the extruded bricks that are pushed out more and more, starting from the outer edge inwards. This extrusion brickwork is another form of brick corbelling.

“The earthy terracotta colour is a direct reference to the materiality of Kerala architecture,” Rozario explains. The light metal balconies that wrap around the front and back of the structure were imagined as contrasting features to the heavy brickwork.

“The biggest challenge in the project was to correctly construct the corbelling of the bricks within the exposed brick facade,” Kamat says. “The entire concrete frame of the house and all the internal walls were built first so that there was no damage to the exposed brickwork during construction. The depressions in the wall, formed by the corbelling, create an interesting texture on the inside, which ties the spaces together.”

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The layout of the ground floor has been kept simple, with open spaces. The main door leads into a living area that seamlessly flows into a family room, a dining room and a kitchen at the back. This floor also houses two guest bedrooms, occupied by the couple’s parents when they are visiting.

“The use of materials for the interiors was also inspired by those seen in traditional Kerala homes. The combination of cane screens with teak wood is an attempt to add that element of nostalgia to an otherwise minimal interior,” Kamat says. The deep blue of the sofa works to lift up the terracotta hue of the wall behind it.

Partially hidden behind a cane and wood screen is the family room that shares a material palette with the living space. “The continuous, almost monolithic granite floor helps accentuate the open ground-floor plan,” Kamat says. The pattern formed by the corbelling of the exposed brick is cleverly used to form accent walls in each room, and it obviates the need for any other heavy embellishments. Aiding in ventilation and flooding the room with natural light and greenery are expansive sliding doors that fold back completely to let in the outdoors. The back garden was imagined as an extension of the park beyond.

Coming back to the living room, another feature that floods this space with light and air is the skylight atop the adjoining open-plan staircase area. Continuing with the simple material palette, the architects made good use of this zone by fitting it with storage cabinets.

The first floor includes a family area and the private bedrooms. The couple’s master bedroom at the rear of the house looks out on to the back park while individual bedrooms for the children look out on to the front street.