Vibrant Minimalism | Residence

The site is located in the suburb of Ernakulam, Kerala. The rectangular plot was with the road to the south-east, a vacant land on the south-west, a house that abuts the boundary on the north-east and the client’s previous house at the back. It was difficult to know if it was day or night, while inside the client’s previous house. A minimal requirement was stated by the client “A spacious house with maximum natural lighting and ventilation with no solid doors between the rooms with a clear budget”.

The land available was about 4 cents after leaving the previous house and the pathway. The ground floor was designed with a sit-out, a living space, a dining space, a kitchen and a courtyard between the kitchen and living space. The spaces were separated with walls with bigger opening and no doors in between. The whole area acts as a single space with maximum window openings. The cut-out to skylight above the courtyard and the large wall size sliding windows at the north end of the courtyard brings in maximum amount of available natural lighting. The cut-outs above courtyard and the dining space make sure a minimum temperature is maintained at the lower level with the hot air rising upwards.

The space above the pathway was used in first floor to have the master bedroom, toilet and a laundry area. The staircase from the dining space leads to the upper living, with the master bedroom bay on to the right and the second bedroom, the skylight and a seating space on to the left. Frosted glass sliding doors were used for the bedroom, which can transfer the natural light to the central bay from the bedroom windows. The upper living opens to the courtyard at the ground floor through the cut-out with skylight roof and a seating space. The seating space acts as a semi-open balcony with the sliding glass doors on the north-east side. In order to cut the visibility from the road and to control the amount of sunlight, a cnc cut perforated façade was designed. The vertical louvers at the south-east side acts as buffering element between the laundry area and the exterior. The laundry area was provided with a skylight with a crystal glass sheet to have controlled sunlight. The floor above accommodates the third bedroom accessed through the stairwell.

A colour palette of “Vibrant Minimalism” was followed all through the project. The beige matt finish floor tiles spread all through, the courtyard with steel grey stone finish floor tiles and a glass floor filled with white pebbles, the sit-out and the staircase finished with black lapotra granite constitute the main material palette. The interior furnishings are designed with a combination of vibrant colours and a base shade. Every space is segregated with different shades, which makes the space vibrant within the minimalist colour palette.

A minimal landscape along the sides of courtyard and the front yard complements the aesthetic character of interior and exterior spaces.