A Contemporary Brick House In Mysuru | Architecture Paradigm

From the architect. Located in Mysore city in a municipal layout the site measures50 X 80 feet with the shorter side facing the road along the southern edge.

An L-shaped planform helps us organize the diverse programmatic concerns of a house for a family of four which is an amalgamation of function and desires; individual vs collective, public vs private, formal vs informal, immediacy vs slowness, largeness vs intimate, openness vs security etc. The shorter arm along the east-west direction houses the public spaces whereas the longer arm along the north-south direction over two levels houses the more private needs of the house.The L-shaped plan also helped us appropriate the unbuilt into an identifiable private rear courtyard or the outdoor room and the transitional forecourt addressing the street. The private courtyard can be seen as an anchor around which the house works. These spaces extend out into this outdoor room which is treated as a pleasure garden punctuated with water, trees, and decks encouraging informal engagement with the natural. Open spaces along the west are integrated into the longer arm blurring the boundaries between inside and the outside.

This organizational relationship of the built with the open spaces signifies our design intent of outdoors forming an integral and a crucial part of the living experience. Open spaces become counterpoints to the serial nature of the urban subdivided neighborhood where open spaces are usually about residues as a result of by-laws and the land is treated as a commodity to be exploited.

The house is designed to bring in a sense of intimacy and connection through subtle changes in the scales of the various spaces. We looked at the material of modernity, reinforced concrete forming the armature along with the traditional brick forming walls, floors, screens and vaults defining the spaces bringing in a sense of warmth. Privacy and security screens are made with brick and mild steel flats , to thehere the slenderness of the steel flat and its tendency to bend over long lengths is addressed with brick spacers which stiffen and integrates the individual flats to create a unique textural surface. Fabricated steel stair over the skylight along the western wall leading to the terrace is detailed to enable maintenance of the skylight glass below it, Here the thread is detailed to incorporate a swiveling mechanism to allow for the to theglass beneath it. All of this is complemented by harnessing natural light to create experiences and spaces the family can identify with and cherish.