| For twenty-eight
years it had stood as a thatched hut, 25 feet square. The client's
brief was to retain the existing foundation and transform it to perform
as her permanent residence. The redesign took care to respond to the
client's love of living "naturally with all modern amenities".
So the answer was in "add-on" spaces to
this single room, both outward and upward. The result was a private
courtyard at the back with an open-to-the-sky bath,, a dressing
area, a toilet and space to have a massage and so on. And a mezzanine
wooden floor reached by an open-worked wooden staircase provides
a spacious bedroom with an attached toilet
Cost effective solutions were provided without spoiling
the natural climate and the eco system. The building is made of
predominantly natural materials. Doors and windows from old houses
that were demolished are reused here. The main door of the original
hut has been retained. Unpolished and unprocessed silver oak, which
is normally used for framework, are used as columns in the front
verandah and as flooring in the mezznine level. Kadapa stone and
terracotta tiles constitute the flooring on the ground level. The
Verandah with its built-in all-round Kadapa stone seating is an
interactive space connecting the inside with the outside, which
is a lush-green garden, serving as an extended living room, most
of the year round.
A unique feature of this construction is that
all the walls are just 4 ½ inches thick.
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