The Box House | Residence

A site is located in maradu, one of the residential hubs in ernakulam, kerala. It’s a rectangular plot with the road on north, a house in the east and south and a running water body on the west side and it’s open towards a wetland. The client’s brief was to design a house with ample amount of light and ventilation and to have a floor layout following the vastu principles. The challenge was to control the amount of heat from the west side of the plot.

The floor layout was designed with the sitout and entrance door on the northwest side and it leads to a foyer space with pooja on the left and the living room on the right side. The west wall in the living room was made without any opening and a small courtyard space visible from the living room and accessible from the dining room was added to get the maximum indirect lighting into the house. The dining space acts as a connecting space between the living and the other areas on the ground floor. The south-west side was designed with the master bedroom and south-east with the kitchen. The staircase was sandwiched between the master bedroom and the courtyard.

The courtyard space was designed with the double height open roof and the space will be visible from the balcony on the first floor and it acts as a communicative space between the floors. The courtyard west wall was designed with the jalis to reduce the heat gain and to have maximum ventilation. The balcony on the first floor was open towards the north side and the west wall was well protected with a different jali design and louvers to have diffused lighting from the west side. The first-floor layout was designed with two bedrooms, a connecting space with a kid’s study area and it opens towards the balcony.

The interior colour palette was with cement finishes, wooden shades and white. The combination was designed to have a balance between the elements with wall texture, fixed cupboards and movable furniture etc. The exterior colour palette was with cement finishes, wooden doors and windows, white and terracotta shades to arrive at the combination of monotone shades with the element of contrast.