Excerpt: Vimal Laxmi Residence by Soumya & Jills Architect forms its canvas from the familiarity of context, shared memories, and a flowering tree. The core of the house developed on a transverse east west section, catching the breeze and the changing light, and a courtyard that connects the house together. The house is a socially inclusive space that accommodates all users’ activities, identities, and quirkiness, while maintaining context and climate.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] The house is set in an old and familiar neighbourhood where the lady of the house grew up. Familiarity of context, shared memories, and a flowering kanikonna tree (Cassia fistula) formed the canvas that informed the design decisions one was to take. While catering to the typical program of a 3-bedroom house, it was also essential that the architecture of the house and its afterlife would maintain and enliven the cordiality that the scene had been offering for many years.
This conversation essentially started at the compound wall which relieves itself from its purpose of ‘guarding’, to ‘accommodating’ – a space with a thickness- friendly evening chats, playtime banter, resting after evening walks. Such a gesture creates a neighbourhood public space, which is much welcomed by people. This social engagement is connected to the house through the verandah, which has moments of pause, along which one slides into the core of the house.
The core of the house developed on a transverse east west section – catching the breeze and the changing light, and a courtyard that connects the house together. The courtyard is where pookalams (intricate and colourful arrangement of flowers laid on the floor) are put for Onam (festival of Kerala), but also where casual cross-legged chats happen on built in platforms.
Walls that filter light and breeze, and the kanikonna foliage make an interesting ever-changing chiaroscuro that defines the spatiality of the house. Motifs and cut outs inspired from the kanikonna, finds place in floor patterns, jalis and carvings.
The ground floor has (apart from the living spaces) the kitchen, a bedroom and a family den. As one walks up the stairs, the scale gradually expands. The first floor accommodates bedrooms, a study, a laundry room and a terrace under the foliage of the tree. The family den accommodates all their superstars figurines, CDs, books of Tintin, Friends, Avengers etc including a custom made (Andy Warhol pop inspired) painting of all their Malayalam movie superstars, by artist Hariprasad.
The house is a space that accommodates activities, identities and quirkiness of all characters, while being rooted to fundamentals of context and climate and socially inclusive of the way it tries to engage with its surroundings.
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