Balakrishnan Residence

•    A family of three wanted an exquisite home for their elderly parents in Kumarapalayam, a small town near Bhavani.

•    They wanted the house to be a beautiful residing spot for their parents; it should also serve as a wonderful vacation place when they visit from abroad. They have lots of cousins and relatives around the same town, so their concentration is more on family space than formal living.

Fact:
Architect: Murali Architects
Project Address: Kumarapalayam,Namakkal
Completion Year: 2019
Total built area (m2): 7020 sq.ft
Photo credits: Binsan Oommen
Photographer’s website: Triple o pixel
Brands / Products
1. Kohler - Sanitary
2. Hettich - Hardware
3. Greenply - Ply
4. Bluestar - Airconditioning 

•    So the need was to design for a large family composed of varied age groups.

•    The Site sits towards the north, with all other sides abutting adjacent properties.

•    This has been designed as a unified form with interlocking spaces inside and luscious greenery on all four sides.

•    The floor plates have been layered to get the contoured effect on the façade. This resulted in harmoniously fragmented façade projections, which in turn gives more usable terrace spaces with greenery at varied levels.

•    The use of tangible elements of nature like welcoming water bodies, courtyards which yields more natural light inside and vegetation all around, resulted in maintaining a balance between the contemporary and natural aesthetic.

•    Starting from the main entrance, a casual thinnai like seaters are given adjoining the road side. This initiates a welcoming feel for anybody who enters.

•    Once entering, there is a welcoming lilly pond that refreshes and guides the user through a green pathway to the main entry foyer. The greenery runs all around the house.

•    The car parking porch is designed as a multipurpose space to accommodate social gatherings. All these spaces will act as a social setting for people to relax and converse.

•    On entering into the house, dramatic visual is made through various levels and varied clear heights that adds a play to the space.

•    As the demand was to give no greenery inside, dry courts that brings in a lot of light with very minimal and easy to maintain plants.

•    From the entrance the space diverse into a formal living on the eastern side, a home theatre on the western side and leads into a family living zone on the southern side.

•    The Interior material selections are done so light to make the spaces feel lighter.

•    Puja space gets lit well with the natural light through sun courts.

•    Two Bedrooms, one for the parents residing there and one for the client’s sister who visits often are given in the ground floor.

•    Other bedrooms are given in the first floor. Connections between these two levels are achieved through open passages in the double height spaces of the ground floor.

•    Each bedroom on the first floor opens out into a terraced garden area and that opens out to the view outside.