XANADURealized

PROJECT DETAILS

BUILT-UP AREA: 12000 sft
YEAR OF COMPLETION: 2010
OWNERS NAME : Capt Siva Subramanyam

The Site and the Client’s Brief :

1) The client desired a luxury home for a family of 4 on a corner plot (bounded by roads on the East and South) measuring approximately 6500 ft in HRBR Layout, Bangalore.

2) The plot had residential development 2-3 storey tall surrounding it on the East, South, and North. On the West was an as-yet-unused site (on which residential development could be expected in the future.)

3) The client enjoys nature and requested that important areas have a “green element” or a connection with the outdoors.

4) The client entertained guests on a regular basis and requested the Living and Dining spaces be configured to accommodate as many as 18 -20 people when required. The Kitchen was to be equipped to handle food preparation for a similar number when required. Stay-over guests were also expected, and thus 2 Guest bedrooms were required.

5) Client desired dramatic spaces both internally and externally.
(He wanted the house to catch the eye and “wow” the passerby.)

6) The architect was entrusted with the architectural, interior, and soft furnishing design of the house.


Concept and Approach :

“Oasis House - Architecture in response” - an intensely developed built form that responds directly to the immediate surrounding built environment - offering occupants vital private and useable “green corners” that abounded with natural light and air, set in the midst of a “desert” of surrounding developments…..

The Challenges :

1) Meeting the client’s room and spatial requirements resulted in a large footprint for the built structure on the plot. It was a challenge to conceive quality “green” spaces that added value in the limited confines of the site.

2) The house was to be Vaastu compliant.

3) On a city site surrounded by development 2-3 storey tall on all sides, it was a challenge to provide privacy to semi-outdoor and outdoor spaces without compromising on their aesthetics. Also, light and ventilation to these semi-outdoor spaces (and the rooms/spaces they serviced) could not be compromised.

4) The client desired a unique built form that also answered the call of practicality in day-to-day living.

Ideology :
“A man discovers himself in solitude, in nature, his home and his family...”
This house on a city plot will strive to offer its occupants a connection with natural elements by essentially having the most interesting “green” spaces within its walls, created to cocoon, offer privacy, and unexpected delight.


Material Utility and special features :
The house is an RCC framed structure.
To add visual appeal and a sculptural effect to the external composition of forms, there are large cantilevers on the NE and SE corners of the house.
The house uses solid concrete block walls and teak wood sliding windows with mesh sliding windows for pest protection.

Other features are :

1) 4’ wide cantilevered Main Stair of solid wood with metal framing

2) 2’ wide cantilevered glass steps to Study in double-height Master bedroom

3) Compound wall has been finished with concrete poured into a mould

4) Toughened laminated glass-floored balcony above the pool

5) Toughened laminated glass-floored Outer Lobby with water feature below- feeds water cascade into Pool

6) Skylight on the terrace with mirrored light shaft carries light to land-locked walk-in wardrobes of daughter’s bedrooms on the First floor