Splitscape Residence explores how section, rather than plan, can become the primary design tool for creating spatial generosity within the constraints of a compact urban site. Located in Coimbatore, India, the residence occupies a 114 sq.m plot within a dense residential neighborhood. The house was designed for a family of four with a clear set of requirements. The brief included a 3BHK layout, parking for two cars and two motorcycles, and a ground-floor bedroom for visiting elderly parents. It also allowed for future expansion while following Vastu principles. Setbacks and wall thicknesses reduced the buildable width to less than 6 metres. This made a conventional floor plan inefficient, prompting a rethink of how the house could be organised.
Splitscape Residence Creates a 3BHK Home on a Compact Coimbatore Plot | SpaceDNA
Rather than distributing the program across stacked floors, the project evolved through its section. The parking slab height was reduced from 3.0 metres to 2.4 metres. This created enough volume to introduce intermediate levels within the house. The living, dining, kitchen, and bedroom spaces now occupy staggered planes connected by 1.5-metre level changes.
This sectional organization establishes continuous visual relationships between spaces while maintaining functional separation. Instead of relying on additional floor area, the house borrows volume, culminating in a triple-height living room that forms the spatial and social centre of the home.
Movement through the house is conceived as a gradual spatial sequence rather than a transition between floors. The staircase functions as an architectural element that choreographs changing perspectives, with each level shift revealing new relationships between the living spaces, courtyards, and upper rooms. The result is a domestic environment that encourages visual connection while preserving individual privacy.
The section also serves as an environmental strategy. A linear courtyard alongside the living room and a smaller courtyard adjoining the children’s bedroom introduce daylight, vegetation, and natural ventilation deep into the interior. Skylights positioned above the central volume, combined with operable vents, generate a stack effect that continuously exhausts warm air while drawing cooler air through the house. These passive systems reduce dependence on artificial lighting and mechanical cooling while responding to Coimbatore’s tropical climate.
Material selection follows the same principle of performance through simplicity. Rat-trap bond masonry improves thermal insulation while reducing brick and mortar consumption through its internal air cavity. A corten steel screen forms a breathable secondary facade on the south elevation, filtering direct solar radiation while maintaining daylight, ventilation, and outward views. Internally, a restrained palette of white plaster, Kota stone flooring laid in modular patterns, exposed concrete ceilings articulated with timber beading, and red oxide accents allows light, shadow, and texture to become the primary architectural elements.
Rather than treating the limitations of a compact urban site as constraints to overcome, Splitscape Residence uses them to redefine the relationship between section, climate, and domestic life. The project proposes an alternative model for urban housing in which spatial quality emerges not from increased floor area but from carefully calibrated volumes, passive environmental strategies, and an architecture shaped by light, movement, and everyday experience.
Fact File
Designed by: SpaceDNA
Project Type: Residential Architecture Design
Project Name: Splitscape Residence
Location: Coimbatore
Year Built: 2026
Built-up Area: 803.8058 Sq.ft
Principal Architect: Gowtham Srinath
Photograph Courtesy: Studio f/8
Design Team: Ranith Prahul, Praveen A
Engineering & Consulting > Structural: Kishan Structural Consultants
Engineering & Consulting > Other: Style by Nook
Manufacturers: Legrand / Bticino, Asian Paints, EBCO, Saint Gobain Glass, Ultratech, WiproLightings
Source: Archdaily
Firm’s Website Link: SpaceDNA
Firm’s Instagram Link: SpaceDNA
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