Excerpt: Indie Tales, a residence by House of Design Stories, embraces a quiet reflection of modern lifestyles and traditional nuances within a limited budget. The project explores the intersection of design, art, and affordability with a thoughtful approach to creating a space that is functional and beautiful. A simple and context-driven plan reflects the family’s character, beliefs, and personality in their home.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Indie Tales, a 1700 Sq Ft residence true to its identity, stands apart with its unparalleled charm amidst one of the older, conservative neighborhoods in Pondicherry. Designed for a multigenerational and intimate family of five.
Embracing a quiet reflection of modern lifestyle and traditional nuances within a limited budget of 60 lakhs was the design brief for this family of five. This challenged the architects in finding creative solutions to deliver a functional yet aesthetical structure by incorporating cost-effective techniques and solutions at every step of the process. As a team they believe that design aesthetics and planning can and should evolve from any given budget. This exciting journey led them to explore the intersection of design, art, and affordability. A straightforward and context-driven plan was implemented, integrating their design philosophy to reflect the family’s character, beliefs, and personality in their home.
The south facing plot holds a minimalist two-level residence with a brick block featuring angles and recessions, sandwiched between metal lined concrete plates atop a solid white block. This harmonious interplay of brick, white and grey creates an elegant palette marking itself as a standalone feature in that locality. The boundary wall’s exposed brick jaali has worked as an affordable design solution, also acting as a statement to the main block.
The entrance to the plot has been combined with the parking, which together has a metal canopy. This metal roof converts itself into a habitable terrace to the first-floor master bedroom, also extending as a pergola over the entrance foyer passage. This entrance indeed is a perfect romance between the pergola, Kadapa and tropics.
The main door and its gate behave as a striking element to the foyer. The architects have added a beautifully carved wooden panel to the door top, giving an authentic and divine feel to the entrance. All openings were adorned with Venghai wood due to its naturally warm tone and termite resistance. Most of the venghai wood were salvaged from old houses, which on a positive side exhibited different shades throughout the house enhancing its beauty. Interiors and styling were intricately planned at every stage of the construction process, integrating as part of the shell and creatively utilizing the left-over materials in a few areas.
The first connection the user would get on entering the house would be with a blank wall, which has been dressed with “10 frames of elegance” an economical interior solution handcrafted with leftover wood, old cotton saree and locally sourced printing blocks.
Interior décor is a part of the interior designing process, but it gets generally ruled out due to budget constraint. Here, in indie tales the architects have created art with leftover materials to make it budget friendly without compromising on the look and quality. Through this they were able to make it cohesive with the interiors.
The first space into the house is the great room which holds a double height ceiling to attain vertical connectivity. The focus was to create a well-connected node within the house. The project also aims to maximize the use of natural light and ventilation in every area, which has been achieved by positioning large windows throughout.
Additionally, the north wall was intentionally designed to allow soft north light to flow into the living room. Complimenting the emphasis on natural lighting, the interior palette was carefully selected to be soft and muted, creating a soothing and calming ambience. A band of contrast bottle green tone conceptualized from the ancestral homes and the polished kota flooring plays the contrast. The living room is thoughtfully kept rustic and earthy. The accent wall, inspired by traditional south Indian saree’s pallu (border of an attire worn by Indian ladies) is decorated with leftover cladding bricks and reclaimed wooden carved panels. The architects paired this with framed pieces of woven grass mat.
The roof of the great room is a filler slab. The idea of a filler slab did not work out economically. Therefore, the architects opted for a hands-on approach, training conventional workers to achieve the desired results seamlessly. The conventional filler slab itself is a piece of art which was given a slight makeover additionally ornamenting the ceiling with pendant lights which took the same form as the pots. Furniture pieces were kept to a minimum and the project utilizes refurbished pieces which were slightly modified to blend with the setting.
The living room connects itself with the entrance, pooja, kitchen and the bedrooms horizontally. The pooja space with its abundance of natural light from the north and east along with its artistically adorned manjal (yellow) door creates a bright and auspicious ambiance. The addition of a bench positioned in front of a large window allows for a unique experience, surrounded by both indoor and outdoor tropics, resulting in a refreshing and revitalizing temple. The color palette opted is more natural with natural hues.
An open kitchen is positioned at the northwest quadrant with an economical modular setup, which is achieved by combining traditional and modern solutions. Just like a traditional kitchen, the lower storage is designed with brick partitions, in combination with modular fittings and kadappa shelves. This helped improve the aesthetics of the home while reducing the cost.
These brick surfaces were then dressed with black oxide, a traditional finishing technique. Similar to the filler slab, local masons were trained to attain the oxide finish. Since the family did not require a conventional dining space, a breakfast table was planned as part of the kitchen.
The first floor is wrapped with terraces on the north, west and south facia. The north and the west terraces are vertically connected with the living. It creates a buffer from the surrounding plots to maintain the light and ventilation into the great room. The corridor opens into the west terrace which is partly covered, serving as a versatile informal living throughout the year with a brick jaali work for privacy. The north terrace has been designed with a covered thinnai primarily for the kid’s tuition classes is connected to the living room window, allowing the family the activity with a direct view from the living room.
The master bedrooms on both levels make use of southeastern openings for natural light. As a cost-effective solution built in wardrobes and benches were incorporated. Their parent’s bedroom was styled with beautiful pichwai art wallpapers, dark grey oxide and painted meenakari wall plates.
The young couple’s bedroom on level 1 has a private terrace and utilises double wall construction on the south and east sides for protection from summer heat. A wardrobe and study niche were incorporated into the double wall, while the study table was designed with left over materials. The taupe on the walls amplifies the brightness to its maximum. Wardrobe is dressed with blue oxide while the shutters were designed with custom-made embroidered fabric.
In simpler terms, the house represents simplicity and adequacy at its highest point.
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