Fact File
Location: Karnataka
Size: 340 sq m
Principal Architects: Gaurav Roy Choudhury
Photography by: Niveditaa Gupta
Bellary House by Gaurav Roy Choudhury Architects is an adroitly composed residence that facilitates a convectional micro-climate (a response to the arid climate of the region) through a façade that is interspersed with small precast concrete windows and heavy eaves. An elevated garden in the northeast corner of the project is the defining element of this unique spatial plan, complemented by distinct interventions such as an open kitchen, private courtyards and skylights that create the fluid transparency associated with family living.
The Bellary House is located in the small town of Bellary known for its iron ore mines, boulder landscape, historic ruins, and its hot and dry climate. It is, more specifically, situated in one of the town’s rapidly transforming neighbourhoods, which is currently seeing a lot of the older, modest houses give way to grander villas. The house is designed to stave off the outside heat and create cool currents within it so as to form a convectional microclimate. The outside walls wrap the house in this gesture of protection, pierced only with small and mass-produced precast concrete windows that dot this exterior. The windows are kept small with heavy eaves to keep away the harsh sun.
An elevated garden is set in the northeast corner as a generator of this microclimate. It is kept open to the sky in the shaded area to create currents that flow through the house, just like the light that reflects into it off its cool surfaces. This terrace garden is on a mezzanine level as it serves both the ground floor and the first floor with its generosity of spirit and soft textures. The family is a small family of four (a couple with two children), with the grandparents occupying a room on the ground floor for when they visit. The energy of the family and their generosity and simplicity is at the core of the house’s design intent. The resident becomes more “private” with every step one takes inward. The use of the volumes creates imaginary lines of division between public and private access, sometimes contradicting the sense of openness that the project evokes.
Image caption, harmoniously combine two usually distinct indulgences
The link between the two main areas, the one closest to the entryway with the bar counter and lounge and the one at the rear reserved for aesthetic treatments, is a decorative feature with a great scenic impact: a series of deep blue glass portals guides the gaze towards the beauty area, giving the space perspective depth and a theatrical feel. This liminal space also houses the boutique and the facial bar, functions that will cater for a passing public and have faster times than the more complex treatments, as well as delineating the perimeter of the two lounges. “The management of flows and technical spaces,” the architects tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.” cts tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.”The link between the two main areas, the one closest to the entryway with the bar counter and lounge and the one at the rear reserved for aesthetic treatments, is a decorative feature with a great scenic impact: a series of deep blue glass portals guides the gaze towards the beauty area, giving the space perspective depth and a theatrical feel. This liminal space also houses the boutique and the facial bar, functions that will cater for a passing public and have faster times than the more complex treatments, as well as delineating the perimeter of the two lounges. “The management of flows and technical spaces,” the architects tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.” cts tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.”
The link between the two main areas, the one closest to the entryway with the bar counter and lounge and the one at the rear reserved for aesthetic treatments, is a decorative feature with a great scenic impact: a series of deep blue glass portals guides the gaze towards the beauty area, giving the space perspective depth and a theatrical feel. This liminal space also houses the boutique and the facial bar, functions that will cater for a passing public and have faster times than the more complex treatments, as well as delineating the perimeter of the two lounges. “The management of flows and technical spaces,” the architects tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.” cts tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.”
Image caption, harmoniously combine two usually distinct indulgences
The choice of materials and finishes was in keeping with this chromatic landscape. “Through the moodboard we visualized the allure of the space,” explains Pennesi. “An interplay of alternations between more or less tactile surface textures, contrasting colors and opaque and translucent finishes that create intriguing peep-through effects.”
This led to the choice of stoneware tiles by Ceramica Sant’Agostino, which deck the floors and bar counter with their dense and uniform speckled pattern and bind together the different areas into which the space is divided, wth laminates from Arpa Industriale and Kaindl, used respectively for the support surfaces and the structures of the bespoke furnishings.
“We chose these materials for both aesthetic and functional reasons. Aesthetic because this type of semi-finished product has color ranges that enabled us to make choices consistent with the palette we created; and practical because they are wearproof materials and ensure easy sanitization. In particular, Fenix, a special laminate we used to coat the counter top, with a surface that has a non-porous outer layer, makes the material easy to clean and suitable for contact with food as well as fingerprint-proof and pleasant to the touch.”
Even the lighting was curated in detail, helping create a pleasant and richly detailed environment. Bellhop cordless table lamps designed by Barber & Osgerby for Flos, illuminate the tables with their discreet light. Suspended above the bar counter is a spectacular suspension composition created with a series of “leaves” in Diphy polycarbonate. Designed by Mirco Crosatto for Stilnovo, it was inspired by a fascinating Japanese plant, whose flowers turn as transparent as crystal in contact with water.
