That White House…

Srijit Srinivas Architects design a minimalist, free-flowing home draped in ethereal white for a family of five in Thiruvananthapuram.   

Curated by: Deepa Nair
Photographs: Justin Sebastian; courtesy Srijit Srinivas Architects

The design brief that Srijit Srinivas Architects received from their cleints for the White Skube House located in Thiruvananthapuram was short and sweet — they wanted “something special.” The functional requirements for the project were particularly challenging: a car porch to house two vehicles, living and dining spaces, kitchen and attached work area, four bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, as well as a family rumpus room in the upper floor.

“The skewed shape of the restricted 2,500-square-foot (approximately) plot organically allowed for a skewed cuboid (or ‘SKUBE’) form to emerge. This was presciently painted in white to augment the sereneness of the morphed platonic form — highlighted as it were by the pandemonium of its busy surrounding neighbourhood,” says Srijit Srinivas, principal architect, Srijit Srinivas Architects.

The monotony of white is broken by the latticed front facade wall with its neat ‘brick bond’ pattern punctures. It also allows light and breeze pathways into the building without compromising on the need for privacy. In contrast to this, the terracotta louvers screening the balconies of two bedrooms on the first floor add a splash of warmth and visual interest to the external facade. “The ambitious functional brief for the house left no space for deploying any double height treatments, but this was more than compensated for by judicious spatial planning and the discerned use of proportions,” explains Srijit.

The design language throughout the project was to keep it bare minimal, and maintain connectivity not only between the public areas, but also with the green patches that surround the house. The entrance to the house is from an external verandah via an entry niche into the living room, which faces a landscaped court in front. The adjoining dining room opens out to a similar feature in the rear allowing for cross-ventilation.

The rear court features an open skylight which floods the interiors with soft warm sunlight. This space wraps around to the open kitchen to form one harmoniously flowing, continuous space. The ground floor bedroom too similarly opens out to a courtyard. The first floor accommodates three bedrooms, in addition to a small open-to-sky terrace space. All through the house, the ceiling has an exposed concrete finish, with floors in a calming grey, and wall painted pure white.

The staircase connecting the two floors has a visceral ‘poured concrete’ design which is cocooned by a wall-like screen panel handrail design, ensuring visual privacy for the stairs. The stairwell also has an ethereal ambience to it on account of the various embedded openings allowing for an easy flow of light, air, and sounds.

Fact File

Project: White Skube House
Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Area: 2,500 sq ft (approximately)
Principal architect: Srijit Srinivas
Design team: Remya Raveendran, Sriya and Deepika