This 1200 sq ft Bengaluru Home Uses a Screened Facade for Light & Ventilation! (House Tour)

To see without being seen. Thirai means screen in Tamil. It refers to the perforated screen on the façade. A response that says I want to see but not to be seen when I choose so. Architect Bhooma Balaji this side from Studio Siena, Bangalore. Join me for an exclusive home tour of Thirai in Bangalore. To watch premium videos and access pdf ebooks with house plans log on to buildify.com. The link is in the description below. So the couple with a young kid and growing family wanted a space that will be clutter free where the kids can run around and play. So the project is in a fast growing urban area in the outskirts of Sarjapur. The house sits on a 30 feet by 40 feet plot with a road on the west. And the main road facing side is the west. So the Thirai or the screen is also in response to that. As you enter through the gate you have the parking and the main door which faces north. From this place of entry as you walk you go and you reach the ground floor bedroom. The language of the house has been kept in mind. Bed that is here with its own built-in tile pattern that's given like a carpet and a study cum office room. When we take the stairs from the ground floor up as we climb we are in for a small bit of surprise. We see a bit of green overflowing from the patch of garden here. You reach this point of entry in the first floor that is to the the living room space. As you climb up and come to the first floor the first place of arrival that you reach to is this living room. So what we did with this space was we wanted to keep it very minimal in terms of furniture. So it has a lot of movement space. On the left is the balcony facing the road. When you walk out of the living room this is the double height balcony that you walk into. A large metal box opening frames the view and overlooks the street below. Thin long ferrocement walls are angled at 45 degrees to block the harsh southwest sun. Between these walls are perforated aluminum sheets which cross ventilate the house while casting beautiful shadows throughout the day. Above circular skylights punctuate the roof drawing daylight down into the double height balcony space and layering it in yet another play of light and shadow throughout the day. As we walk forward this is the kitchen cum dining space almost to the width of the entire house. Facing east is a low height window seat in the northeast corner. This space also enjoys good cross ventilation through the utility balcony. We have a puja nook opening into this space. We take the stairs from the first floor come up to the second floor. This is the kids bedroom a cozy room with a small step out balcony of its own. We've tried to keep the furniture flexible that it has a sofa cum bed and can accommodate more guests if need be and it also gives them the option of changing this room as and how the need arises as and how they want it. As far as the flooring is concerned we have introduced a flooring pattern that would resemble a rug. The kids bedroom balcony looks down over the double height balcony of the first floor. This ties the two spaces together and keeps a visual connection running between the balconies. We come to this small nook of a space we have provided for an additional study space here. The master bedroom spans the entire width of the house again complete with its own walk-in wardrobe area and an attached bathroom. The design of the house responds to an urban nuclear family's requirement of privacy and togetherness. We have used a color palette of brown beige and green both on the inside and the outside to tie all the spaces together.