Unique materials and an experimental approach create a home that dovetails tradition with modernity under Design IT Architecture Studio’s creative eye.
Curated by: Rupali Sebastian
Photographs: Yash R Jain; courtesy Design IT Architecture Studio
The site
The 15-year-old apartment located in Chennai was a challenge at hand. The apartment’s original layout was dark, claustrophobic, lacked natural light and brightness a home should need. “We knew we had to change every-bit of the apartment to give it life,” says Preethi Madhana Kumar, principal architect, Design IT Architecture Studio.
The brief
The client’s brief was very simple: “Do what it takes to transform the space.“ His willingness to explore and experiment with unique materials made it possible for the design team to bring interesting and intricate things into the canvas.
The design intent
The house was perceived as a convergence of ‘tradition and modernity’. The intent was to create a home that was cosy, vibrant and lively rather than an impersonal, hotel-like space.
The civil intervention
“We took a unanimous decision to break open and widen the windows in the living room to get more daylight into the house,” discloses Preethi. “We removed the windows, doors and French windows and replaced them with aluminium windows to go with the look. We broke the entire flooring and re-laid it in a lighter colour to make the house more seamlessly bright and nice.” Additionally, the walls in the living area were given grooves to give them a pleasing texture to complement the space.
The spatial flow
The intricately chiselled wooden entrance door with brass inlays opens into a vibrant foyer juxtaposed with colours and materials. The brass unit in between the foyer and formal living room acts as a partition bringing in the daylight up till the foyer. The formal living room flows into the informal living room, where the family sits and spends quality time. The informal space, in turn, segues into the bespoke kitchen. While the master bedroom and guest bedroom are to the rear of the apartment, the parent’s bedroom is located in the front of the house right next to the foyer facing the road.
The material palette
The main door is made of teak with customised brass inlays. The later material is used to render a unit that acts as a room divider and a showpiece. In the formal living room, the walls are grooved to create an interesting pattern with grey texture finish on one side. The existing niche on the other side was adorned with the Gullistan collection by JJ Valaya, creating an interesting frame as a wall itself. The informal living room is shielded by a brass screen with stripped glass. The backdrop is created out of stunning Passione granite from Madagascar. While oak veneer makes a dominant statement in the master bedroom, the walls of the guest room are lined with decorative 3M to give the seamless finish. A fabric-upholstered bed, a pastel colour and CNC-cut wardrobe shutters define the parents’ room.
The challenges
“At the designing stage,” says the architect, “we had to keep in mind the traditional heritage, which the parents wanted, and the modern ideas the son wanted to implement. That was quite a balancing act.” The other challenge was the age of the building — which meant the team couldn’t use machines to uproot old floors and had to do it by hand.
Fact file
Project: The Apartment 1A
Location: Chennai
Area: 1,800 sq ft
Principal architect: Preethi Madhana Kumar
Design team: Ashika Singh, Harivarshen T, Rohit Raghav and Sabaree Sodalai
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