6,863 Exterior Design Ideas

Stone facades add an earthy charm to the home by integrating pastel hues and secondary materials of high performance.

Ratnamma residence is an elegant house for a warm family of five members. The layout includes a spacious double height living and dining space and an exterior garden on the north where the family will spend most of their time together. It includes four bedrooms each with an attached bathroom and east facing sit-outs.

Residence cum Homestay INSPIRATION: Inspiration was from the old indo-portuguese settlements,with its perfectly scaled streets and common spaces. A homely scale giving privacy to the units yet achieving grand and luxurious feel. Richness is achieved by Use of earth colors and natural materials, by play of internal volumes, use of skylights and dormer windows, bringing in colorful light to bring a live an old structure which otherwise lacked light and ventilation. UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This design attempts at preserving the existing structure, and adding new structures to it, to bring alive a grand colonial style structure. The structures are built around courtyards holding gardens with pathways connecting them. All rooms open to these outdoor spaces which are perfectly scaled to imitate an old settlement. Even though the private residence and the home-stay have separate entrances and spaces, designed to serve two different functions, they share a common design language. OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: This place is a homestay. So owners live in the house and give out the rooms to make their guests experience living in an old heritage colonial style home which is designed to feel like a grand house with living spaces, dining spaces and bedrooms in a configuration of how a mansion would be. The rooms all open out to gardens and spill out spaces which have a hierarchy. So one common space leads to other. The owners get to maintain their privacy by the way ther palce is designed and also get to kepp a supervision on the guest area to make sure all is going well. PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project took 3 years to complete and start operations. Location is Candolim, North Goa. FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Architecture, Building and Structure Design PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: Locally sourced materials like Laterite stone and mud fro walls, wood framework along with metal beams with cement board ceiling with bitumen for waterproofing above and finally mangalore terracotta roof tiles. Locally crafted terrazzo tiles along with ceramic tiles and Jaisalmer stone for flooring. Traditional Country tiles for roof corbelling. Fiber glass pool lifted above ground not to disturb the natural ground. All trees were retained and buildings built around them to take most advantage of the shade and its natural greenery. In all its a low on energy consumption, Cool, well lit and ventilated house. SPECIFICATIONS / DIMENSION / PACKAGE / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Total 1100 sqm built up area. Out of this 300 sqmt is old structure which is refurbished as a home having 4 bedrooms and 800 sqm is new structure which is added to accomodate a 6 bedroom homestay and services to facilitate this activity. RESEARCH ABSTRACT: Th traditional typologies of heritage structures were studied in terms of the streets leading to them, in terms of its internal spaces ans well as in terms of the materials and techniques used and improvised to suit the requirement and the needs of the present day. CHALLENGE: To make the old and new merge and to give the best of both worlds, the past and the present.

Located in Ayroor, Kerala this family home that sits on the banks of the Chalakudy river is nothing less than a mini-ecosystem within itself — self-sufficient and symbiotic. Using local masons, carpenters, contractors and construction methods, this home was completed with natural materials such as terracotta and laterite tiles, kota stone and terracotta jaali blocks. A generous verandah wraps around three sides and a large open terrace on the upper floor maximises the spectacular views out onto the river. The house is an extension of the clients’ (perfect) idea of living a retired life.

A box with a flat surface just becomes a four lines drawn in a painting. What is it called? A two-dimensional figure? All it takes is a change of vision and perspective to make a “CUBE”, a three-dimensional figure. More or less addition of few angles, few vertex and few lines. The stack of cubes each on two ends giving an equal balance of architectural language from the front side brings out into our vision. An addition of depth into length and breadth makes its more dynamic than ever.

A private bunglow

The image offers a view of the villa in the lush green surroundings.

Prabu Shankar

Riyaz Quraishi