Minimal Luxury

The clean lines of industrial minimalism blend beautifully with muted tones and textures in this weekend home crafted by AWOL Design Studio in Chennai.

Curated by: Deepa Nair
Photographs: Yash R Jain; courtesy AWOL Design Studio

The site

The Confluence @MRC project is a holiday home nested in a cluster of seven townhouses in MRC Nagar, Chennai. Owned by a group of friends, all the homes in this community is created by a different design firm — each distinct, with a different design language. AWOL Design Studio headed by architects Karran Kumar and Inesh Sah was invited to design one house (seen here). They were introduced to the project at an early stage, when the building carcass was being built — this allowed the architects to make civil, electrical, and plumbing as per their design needs. “We united two independent houses by taking down the core walls and preserving only the structural parts to get to 4,800 sq ft. We were able to carve out a home theatre and convert the two houses (3BHK and 2BHK) into a spectacular 4BHK home,” explains Karran.

The brief

The brief required the design team to create a clutter-free experience, and design informal communal spaces that aided the family’s love for playing host. The man of the house also had a specific design in mind for the furniture in this house.

The design intent

“To achieve the end design result, we researched the client’s movement and circulation patterns at their weekday home in order to build a space that shields them from noticing a dramatic contrast between their two residences. We were fortunate to have a client whose taste matched ours in terms of the wood-heavy rattan furnishings and subdued wall tones,” says Inesh.

Industrial minimalism was the theme which runs through the house with major emphasis on clean lines, raw materials, and timeless finishes. Another design philosophy that was integrated throughout this project was keeping the circulation patterns clutter-free and linear, providing the user with a smooth transition from one room to the other. The informal living area, with its exposed brick finished wall and wood heavy rafters that framed and enhanced the linearity of the plan-form was one place in particular that reflects the design philosophy of this project effectively. Additionally, the use of rattan (cane weave) and complementary brass elements, both prominent in the booming 1960s, was an important component of the design integration for this home.

The spatial configuration

One steps into the formal living area after crossing the entrance door. A glass partition separates this area from the linearly aligned informal living area, dining and open kitchen. The dining set-up looks out to the back garden on one end, and the staircase vestibule and guest bedroom on the other. On the first floor, one side accommodates the informal seating, home theatre, and the daughter and son’s bedrooms, while the other leads to the master suite.

The material palette

The interiors are enveloped in a clean and crisp palette of white walls, warm brown (furniture), and cement grey (flooring and wall textures), with each space flaunting its unique shade. “We chose the palette based on our mutual love (client and our studio’s) of earthy and muted tones that complimented our love for modern vernacular cane finish which can be observed in the furniture selection,” says Karran.

Favourite aspect of the project

“The staircase is, hands down, our favourite place. It is tucked in the centre of the home with two large windows in the background that enables the morning sunlight to trickle through the staircase treads and into the dining area. Designing a light yet elegant staircase with a grooved, exposed concrete wall on its side was perhaps the most exciting part of this project,” shares Inesh.