The client sought a 5-cent corner plot house plan in a housing colony for his family of three in the city of Cochin, Kerala. Anticipating a crowded neighborhood as other plots filled up and ensuring optimum privacy for the family without compromising on daylight and ventilation became a crucial design challenge.
This Corner Plot House Plan Does not Compromise on Ventilation | The Design Pursuit
The house strives to achieve a stark simplicity that contrasts with the visual noise of the modern world, presenting architecture as functional art responding to context. Almost monolithic in form, with a few punctures for windows, the expression of this house to the neighborhood reveals very little.
For the client—a young couple with a kid engaged in a busy lifestyle—their limited time at home needs to be a deeply restorative experience. Furthermore, they did not require an ornate home, which would overwhelm them or become a maintenance hassle.
The frugal approach adopted in designing this project caters to the young city dwellers yearning to build a home in the urban context—where land rates are high and the neighborhood is crammed.
Breaking away from the tendency to provide large windows, the design explores a more controlled interaction between interior and exterior spaces. On the contrary, the expectation set by the exterior’s character, the rooms inside are brightly lit, with daylight flooding in through skylights and ribbon windows.
The living room is situated at the rear part of the house, away from the plot’s entrance. Although, a brief walk along the shaded veranda leading to the foyer allows a transitional journey from the street to the interior of the house—a luxury given the small size of the plot.
Louis Kahn said, ‘Each space must be defined by its structure and the character of its natural light.’ The skylit stairwell—only partly visible upon entering the foyer—reveals the daylight spilling down into the living while consciously hiding its source.
The plain white walls and the gray floors present a sculptural canvas for the play of shadows. It renders the meditative experience in the living space. Furthermore, as evening falls, the atmosphere in the stairwell turns dramatic, with the shadows and colors shifting along with the changing sky.
The family lounge is a couple steps down, serving as a conversation pit with its in-built sofa. Meanwhile, the dining area features a long ledge seat extending the room’s length. Additionally, the built-in seating in these common spaces accommodates a larger crowd within the compact home.
The bedrooms are minimal, with just the bare necessities. Additionally, two of the bedrooms have private balconies attached to them. The third one is the kid’s bedroom with its in-built ledge seat and study table. In response to the tropical climate, the windows are deep-set to channel in breezes while shielding harsh sun. Moreover, strategically positioned ribbon windows maintain privacy without sacrificing visibility from the indoors.
The design presents as an asymmetrically balanced form, grounded in a strong sense of geometry. Moreover, the house’s solid-void massing discreetly blocks direct views into the private spaces from the outside. Nestled in an in-set volume, an expansive open-to-sky terrace garden allows the family to gather on the first floor. As a result, the space provides a balance between exposure and enclosure.
The controlled departure from strict purity in form allows the building to accommodate its anomalies. Moreover, the occasional shade slab that juts out, breaking the character of the subtractive volumes. Additionally, a reduced material palette and the elimination of color in the interiors allow better expression of daylight.
Overall, the house stands as a modest sanctuary for a small family—imposing in its monolithic presence yet serene in its essence.
Fact File
Designed by: The Design Pursuit
Project Type: Residential Architecture Design
Project Name: The Monolithic House
Location: Vennikulam, Ernakulam, Kerala
Year Built: 2024
Duration of the project: 18 Months
Built-up Area: 2350 Sq.ft
Project Cost: 70 Lakhs
Principal Architect: Ar. Divya Rajesh
Team Design Credits: Ar. Chitra V & Ar. Antony Joseph
Photograph Courtesy: Divya Rajesh
Products / Materials / Vendors: Construction Materials – Concrete block work / Lighting – Luker / Sanitaryware – Jaquar, Hansgrohe / Windows – Tostem Aluminum System Windows / Furniture – Stories, Cedar / Flooring – Nexion Tiles / Kitchen – Stonelam Countertop / Paint – Jotun
Consultants for the Project: Structure Engineers – STUBA / Lighting Designers – Luker / Contractors – STRIDE / Project Managers – Ajith Babu
Firm’s Instagram Link: The Design Pursuit
For Similar Project >>> The Brick House Exterior is a Jewel in the Dense Urban Fabric
This bungalow style house influences the site context and can be visualised in multiple facades of sharp edges & cuboidal form. Her,e salient features like U-Projection are an expression of the bench on a level one. The house divides itself into three bays. On the ground floor, where first bay acquire all public activities like […]
Imagine yourself on the terrace of your hidden mountain retreat, drinking a fresh cup of coffee as you admire the sunrise emerging from behind the rolling hills across the valley. This serene atmosphere is exactly what Hello Wood’s latest project, the Console House, is designed to offer. The Console House showcases modern architecture design while […]
As cities continue to grow and evolve, there is a growing desire to incorporate elements of rural living into urban design. By embracing rural living principles, cities can create more eco-friendly and sustainable spaces. Rural living is not just about wide-open spaces and rolling hills. It’s also about community, sustainability, and a connection to nature. […]
Located in the thriving city of Ichalkaranji, this is an example of luxury residences is a seamless blend of timeless elegance and modern sophistication. The striking exterior, adorned with brick and natural stone cladding, exudes warmth, character, and permanence. These rich textures create a visually captivating façade, harmonizing tradition with contemporary design while making a […]
Throughout history, stone has embodied permanence, artistry, and raw beauty in architecture. From the grandeur of Roman amphitheaters to the earthy elegance of modern villas, stone remains a beloved material for its strength, sustainability, and aesthetic richness. As design trends evolve toward natural materials, eco-conscious decisions, and biophilic design, stone has found new expressions — […]
The space adopts a biophilic office design and climate-responsive approach, creating a workspace that reimagines urban interiors by deeply embedding them with nature. The style is earthy, minimal, and modern with a strong contextual sensitivity to its location. Also, a lush canopy surrounds the bare-shell site on the first floor, allowing for abundant daylight and […]
The design started from an old house where a family of seven stood, one yet to be born. Hari & Sreelakshmi, Usha-Hari’s mother, Malathi, teacher, Hari’s grandmother, kids, Sankari, Paru, and yet to be born Sreebala. Four generations living in a 60-year-old house that had begun to show its age with dimly lit rooms, leaking […]
The clients’ requirement was to create a wellbeing centre at Oleander Farms, Karjat, Maharashtra, that would be a tranquil sanctuary for their visitors. Walking through a dense canopy of trees, hearing the soft chirping of birds, we slowly embarked on an expanse of a 2-acre of land that was both open yet heavily tree-laden. This […]
The thought was to create a space which would act as a formal real estate workspace in the daytime and a family retreat in the evening. By its name, as it is, ‘Leveled. This office with a garden is defined using levels, in terms of volumes, surfaces as well as edges. These levels are rationalized […]
Nirmay (निर्मय) reflects purity and holistic well-being. Envisioned as a quiet sanctuary amidst the noise of urban life, these courtyard villas offer a way of living that is calm, conscious, and deeply connected to the land. Rooted in sustainability and ecological harmony, the design responds to both nature and the everyday rhythms of its inhabitants. […]