Excerpt: Maya Residence by Between Spaces is a simple, efficiently planned home designed around the concept of creating interconnecting spaces. Centered on two open-to-sky courtyards, the design creates seamless visual and spatial links between indoors and outdoors. With modest materials, soft tones, and abundant light and greenery, the house balances functionality and warmth, embodying a quiet, minimalistic elegance.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Located in a gated residential neighbourhood in east Bangalore, Residence 238 sits on a plot measuring 80’x60′ accessed from the road on the south. The site consists of existing houses on 2 sides and an empty plot on the other. Reflecting upon the client’s requirements and way of living, hence the design called for the structure to be simple and honest.
The brief was to design a 5 bedroom house for the family of 5 – the parents of the owners, the owners, their son. Very clear with their requirements and thoughts, they wanted their home to be efficiently planned and crafted to every detail. They wanted a G+1 structure designed such that the upper floor could be rented out at a later stage without a lot of changes.
Residence 238, built to experience life through seamless spaces, light and nature, revolves around the concept of “inter-connecting spaces”. The harmonious blend between the indoor and the outdoor, interconnection of one space with the other along with the open spaces. The habitable areas are designed around 2 staggering open to sky courtyards. These intimate courtyards are strategically located in such a way that it is visually connected and experienced from multiple areas in the house. The deep set main entrance is approached through a large canopy and opens to the staircase lobby to form the start of the circulation axis. The ground floor consists of a double height living area stepping out to a large court which the client intends to use for vegetable gardening, open kitchen and dining further opening out to a courtyard, and 3 bedrooms with ancillary facilities.
Arrangement of spaces is simple with very little variation in levels and they flow and merge into the other seamlessly. Upper level, planned to be rented out in the future, is a space consisting of the family area, 2 bedrooms with balconies, yoga and exercise room – to be later converted to dining and kitchen.
The family area comprises a large balcony facing the road, with a circular planter and a circular opening in the ceiling, providing visually delightful shadows as the sun moves and adds an element of playfulness to the structure. Balcony from the master bedroom in the upper level juts out into the courtyard facing the south, acting as a protection to the bedroom from the harsh sunlight.
The bedrooms and toilets on both the floors are located to the west, with the larger bedroom windows facing the north or east, thus acting as a barrier to the common areas during the day. We managed to give enough circulation around the periphery of the house as the client required a small walking track for the elderly at home. All the existing trees at site were retained which adds to the greenery and set against the grit finish surfaces they add a sense of softness to the house.
The basic approach was to achieve a house that is unpretentious, modest and minimalistic, in terms of design and materiality, with adequate light, ventilation and greenery. The exterior and interior are lined with muted and subtle tones, with a modest material palette of exposed concrete ceiling, white walls, terrazzo flooring and balcony walls done in grit finish in grey.
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