Anand Jaju

Brick House in India by Architecture Paradigm

Project TItle
Brick House
Location
Mysuru, India
Area
325 sqm
Architects
Architecture Paradigm
Lead Architects / Design Team
Vimal Jain, Sandeep J., Manoj Ladhad, Senthil Kumar, Anirudh
Manufacturers
Saint Gobain, Fabindia, Jaquar
Photography
Anand Jaju

This 300 sqm, 3 bedroom Home in Mysuru (formerly known as Mysore), India, features an extensive use of brick paired with concrete and steel. Designed by Architecture Paradigm, the Brick House, as it is called features an L-shaped layout planned around an internal courtyard.

It features full height glass walls and fold away doors that aid in creating a unique indoor-outdoor living experience. The home is situated on a site measuring 15 x 24 m with the shorter side facing the road along the southern edge. The L-shaped plan form helps organize the diverse programmatic concerns of a house for a family of four which is amalgamation of function and desires; individual vs collective, public vs private, formal vs informal, immediacy vs slowness, largeness vs intimate, openness vs security etc. The shorter arm along the east west direction houses the public spaces whereas the longer arm along the north south direction over two levels houses the more private needs of the house.

DRAWINGS COURTESY ARCHDAILY

The L shaped plan also helped appropriate the un-built area into an identifiable private rear courtyard or the outdoor room and the transitional forecourt addressing the street. The private courtyard can be seen as an anchor around which the house works. These spaces extend out into the this outdoor room which is treated as a pleasure garden punctuated with water, trees and decks encouraging informal engagement with the natural. Open spaces along the west is integrated into the longer arm blurring the boundaries between inside and the outside. This organizational relationship of the built with the open spaces signifies our design  intent of outdoors forming a integral and a crucial part of the living experience. Open spaces become counterpoints to the serial nature of the urban  subdivided neighborhood  where open spaces are usually about residues as a result of bye-laws and the land is treated as an commodity to be exploited.

The house is designed to bring in a sense of intimacy and connection through subtle changes in the scales of the various spaces. We looked at the material of modernity, reinforced concrete forming the armature along with the traditional  brick forming walls, floors , screens  and vaults defining the spaces bringing in a sense of warmth. Privacy and security screens are  made with brick and mild steel flats ,here the slenderness of the steel flat and its tendency to bend over long lengths is addressed with brick spacers which stiffens and integrates the individual flats to create unique textural  surface. Fabricated steel stair over the skylight along the western wall leading to the terrace is detailed to enable maintenance of the  skylight glass below it, Here the tread is detailed to incorporate a swiveling mechanism to allow for the access to  the glass beneath it. All of this is complemented by harnessing natural light to create experiences and spaces the family can identify with and cherish.

Subscribe
Subscribe to stay updated on featured projects, design news and insights across Africa.

I have read and agree to the privacy policy

THE DESIGN LIST