Sparkling Design

The Geode House by Collage Architecture Studio stands tall and imposing in the densely built locality of Kodihalli, Bengaluru. Encompassing 8,000 sq ft, it is a vastu-compliant house built in a modern design form. Themed on the natural form of a crystal-embedded geode, this home-for-four is replete with green spaces. “Within the existing site context, and the arrangement of spaces by Vastu Purusha Mandala, the family desired for plenty of green spaces to live within, and balcony gardens attached to all bedrooms, hence, all common spaces lay on the east, pushing the private spaces to the west, allowing the centre of the house to open vertically to the sky,” say the principal architects Arunkumar Deivanayagam, Adwitha Suvarna, and Swapnil Valvatkar, who were also assisted by team member architect Shalini MO. The striking facade of the house comprises black and crème marble, a bulwark against prying eyes. Behind the fortified gates and the marble rampart unfold the home’s lavish interiors, comprising marble finishes, chandeliers, a vertical garden, waterfalls, and the central courtyard.

Similar to a mountainous cavern, the large entrance verandah leads into the foyer space and then the centre of the house. This is a narrow triple-height vertical volume assembled as a versatile space, topped with a chandelier to break the volume. With its skylight filtering in daylight, a starry night is achieved by the exquisite chandelier imitating a shower of lightpoints. Along the axis of the same space appears the jhula court, a soft space with a skylight of its own and a simple aesthetical swing. One of the many focus areas of this home is the vertical garden on the east wall. It is on the flip side of the soaring facade wall, and it provides a stunning backdrop to most levels of the house.

The central courtyard, peppered with pockets of exotic greens, is where the family spends most of the day. This area accommodates the living space, the kitchen and the dining space. Services like the wet kitchen and the utility space are tucked further away, behind the kitchen. Sitting at the edge of the central courtyard is the puja space, designed to look like the cave-temples carved into mountains.

With the ground level accommodating most common spaces, the first level holds the master bedroom and the daughter’s bedroom, each with their own terrace-decks. Following the theme, the master bedroom has an earthy material palette of various wood textures, and is dotted with more of the exotic plant collection. The daughter’s room follows the ‘sun’ theme, and hence is finished with brass and black, for its dark-gold look. On the second level, is the ‘sky’ themed son’s bedroom, with floating-glass shelves and a light colour palette to create a sense of flow.

Further, on this same level, is an entertainment space, which unfolds onto an outdoor terrace. The bedrooms have been planned to provide independent living spaces, and have their own terrace-gardens as well as superlative views of the vertical garden on the east wall. The movie theatre, along with a few other service areas are in the basement, which also hosts a four-car parking.

In Geode house, Collage Architecture Studio has achieved tremendous proportions and space utility using well-defined and dressed volumetric breaks.

Curated by: Ambica Sharma
Photographs: Abhishek Maji; courtesy Collage Architecture Studio