Sharma House

Location: Bangalore, India
Photo credits: Lester Rozario

Recognition:

1. A Celebration of Architecture Awards, Inside Outside: Best Architecture Award – Residential

2. Indian Architect & Builder: Young Designers

The brief: “A vastu compliant contemporary house”

The 30-year-old Bangalore house with thick walls nearly hugged the plot’s boundary and was so compact with the neighboring homes that it totally blocked natural light inside.

The aim of the renovation & extension of this residence was to ‘de-clutter’ the existing living spaces by getting rid of its dark corners while being ‘vastu compliant’. We took the vastu prerequisites and decided to turn it into a spatial asset.

The new skin had two parts:

The staircase block– The staircase was moved to the northern side by demolishing the first flight of the existing staircase. This, when added to the setback outside, created a vibrant sunny spot yet a private outdoor space.

The hanging wall – As a huge projection above the car park, its top was not accessible. This was converted into a study. As the slab could not take a load of a wall so we hung the outer skin from the roof.

The additional volumes in brick and concrete latch seamlessly onto the existing structure, expressed in white. All the doors and windows were re-used. The new windows were imagined to be ‘tonally different’ from their older cousins.