Chisel

Chisel is built on a compact 150sqm plot in one of Bangalore’s typical gated communities. It is composed of a smaller 2 bedroom unit on the ground level and a larger 4 bedroom duplex above. The primary home on the upper levels is designed for a young couple and his immediate family; a mix of two different generations. The brief therefore was to design an airy, spacious home with large common areas for the family to get together and private bedroom spaces for each of its members.

Flanked by neighbouring residential buildings on either side, the dense program requirements meant that the primary program looks inwards, towards its double heighted volumes that open up to the sky via strategically placed decks, skylights and voids. The resulting internal spatial organisation creates visual connections both internally and externally across both levels. The vertical circulation is articulated through a light metal staircase hung across two levels, piercing through the large central volume. This separates the larger common living areas and open decks in the North from the more compactly arranged service areas in the South. 

The internal organisation of spaces translates to the exterior appearance of the building. This house is designed to appear as a large hovering solid mass with a significant chunk of it carved out. The program within adapts to this ‘chiselled mass’ with minimal openings on the front and larger openings that are located within the sculpted portion of the solid. 

To further emphasise the form, the interior surfaces of the void get a bright coral paint scheme in contrast to a mute white that engulfs the rest of the building. Although the smaller mass with a dark grey paint is an extension of the primary internal program, it appears to sit within the large chiselled void as an independent object, liberated from the rest of the mass.

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Chisel residence published on Volume Zero.