Category Archives: Indian interiors & architecture

exotic Indian interiors

18/01/2008 DesignFlute 3 Comments

What visual bliss other than having them (of course peacocks!) dancing around in my courtyard!

Architects designers: SE ARCH – Studio for environment and architecture

From vivid array of work done by SE ARCH team theses interior spaces have been chosen keeping in mind the traditional Indian exotic outlook.

Step inside through this columns and arches; an exotic world awaits you.

Those banana leaves should be on my dining table!

The meal is being served right here. But let me have an eyeful of these carvings first.

The Indian thali. Wow! I am going to get all 32 dishes!(traditionally 32 various dishes used to make a royal meal)

Satiated, I am going to laze in the courtyard. How can ikat be faraway.

Verandah has these jaislmer stones warmth but colours give a feel of amazing attangudi tiles.

Central courtyards always serve a purpose in extreme climates. They are so designed as to work as air shaft. Warm air rises and is let out at second level through ventilators and cooler breeze comes in through thinner slits and openings at the periphery of the house.

But I am thinking of 100 other ways to décor the courtyard!

If still not satiated go out, green grass is not at the other side of the fence!

Indian interiors & architecture

welcome to learning street!

15/01/2008 DesignFlute Leave a comment

From outside it looks pretty much the same- the deceptive box architecture. But this educational facility in the heart of Mumbai opens up for a complete redical re-think.

Designer architects : Planet 3 Studios

Here walls bend, curve and tilt to challenge accepted notions of structural stability. Orthogonal rigidity is eschewed. A cleverly designed porous polycarbonate skin allows the structure to be naturally aerated at all times.

The entire structure dispels pre-conceived notions of design and construction. Read about design patterns here.

If you think it is only a box of asymmetric spaces, go take a walk! It is a very complex design assimilating every possible need of a higher education facility and Much More!

You are onto the learning street; Friends! Enter as the building does not have gates (!) only large punctures which connect inside with the outside.

The building architecture is devised as a group of distinct facilities (four engineering faculties) connected by a self guiding interior promenade with nooks and alcoves to accommodate student activities.

Continue reading welcome to learning street! →

Indian interiors & architecture

the green stone mansion

14/12/2007 DesignFlute 9 Comments

Load-bearing arches using cut stone slabs

Architects Chirashree and Rahul Thakkar via Better interiors

This is an eco-sensitive home built by architects Chirashree and Rahul Thakkar in the sands of Gujarat using local material and distinct vernacular flavour.

I had this post as draft for a month now as I was searching for the architects’ direct link but I haven’t found it.

I am unable to stop myself admiring the grand architecture of this house and modern life style synthesized with simple local culture.

Stone jaali work behind a traditional Gujarati

Sankheda-jhula (swing)

A variety of local stones were used in different forms as basic construction material, depending on the character of the stone and the wind direction. Sandstone slabs were placed over locally made pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete beams to form the roofing. This reduced the use of normal RCC by about 65 per cent. Sawn sandstone, rajula stone (a very hard basaltic stone), karoli stone and jaisalmer stone are used.

Carved stone balcony railing

There is plenty of natural light, large windows and enough ventilation to obviate the need for air-conditioning. The house is flooded with natural light without the heat. There is extensive use of greenery on the open land. Wild creepers, grass and shrubbery are allowed to grow unhindered on the sand dunes, so that they could anchor the loose sand. The inner and outer spaces are merged beautifully to provide a large extended living space.

Staircase with arches defining the side and the space under it.

Continue reading the green stone mansion →

Indian interiors & architecture

arched Indian sunlight!

19/11/2007 DesignFlute 1 Comment

SJK architects, Mumbai

They think out of box, they think contemporary and they think in Indian context. SJK architects believe in optimizing sun and wind.

a bungalow on a very small space in Mumbai

They don’t advertise it, they haven’t mentioned it but I can’t resist telling you that it is an all women architects’ team!

Shimul Javeri Kadri with her team of talented architects has experimented in novel ways. They have designed a residential building in Chennai where plumbing spaces look like bamboo like jalis (grill). A house in hilly areas of Alibaug is designed as leaves inspired from the leaves strewn around, the curves here follow rain function.

a house in Alibaug inspired by leaves strewn around

box niches with out of box ideas

arched Indian sunlight!

The ethnic interiors, the glass box modern with many Indian features and colours all speak of functional spaces and adopting the negative environment to its positive fullest.

This house in Bengaluru was built on one acre plot, a dirty nala(sewer line), airplanes (airport vicinity) and dreams!

Indian architecture, Indian interiors & architecture

I am no straight pillar

19/10/2007 DesignFlute 5 Comments

Innovative stone and brick twisted columns.

Goa based Mozaic‘s traditional architecture rendering in a holiday home where verandahs and innovation with local materials rule.

Indian interiors & architecture

house of mud

30/09/2007 DesignFlute 18 Comments

‘Bhung’ or mud hut a traditional construction in Kutch is an engineering wonder.

Here are the mud houses or bhungas and glipses of people of Kutch.These traditional circular homes withstood the devastating earthquake (2001). They are also considered cyclone proof. They can be constructed with local material.

The colourful and one of the extremely rich in crafts region of Gujarat (India) is Kutch. Many communities and tribes in this region have their own distinctive styles in textiles, embroidery and handicrafts. Each community and tribal group has its own lexicon of motifs and embroidery stitches.

Bharwaads

Rabaaris are the ones who decorate the insides of their mud-and-thatch huts with ‘lippankam’ or mud-mirror work; the Bharwaads are seen in their exquisitely embroidered dresses and clothes; the Meghwaals decorate the exteriors of their mud huts with alluring patterns; the nomadic Jaths whose subgroups include the graceful Fakirani Jaths, live in huts made of coloured reeds. And you can see a group of Jath women walking along the road in their brightly coloured and beautifully embroidered costumes.

Meghwaals

What makes the `bhungas’ so strong?

Their circular design and the steely mesh of mud plaster and twigs make them resist any wind pressure and quake. The `bhungas’, which ‘even a king would envy’ for its elaborate design and artistic elegance, have a light dome-shaped bamboo and thatched roof and a circular wall plastered with mud, twigs and dung.

Their thick walls keep the interior cool when the temperature rises to 46 degrees celsius in summer and warm when it drops to two degrees in winter.

Above image is part of permanent exhibitionin in the Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig in Germany.