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    Cabin home in Bengaluru by Taliesyn redefines the pleasures of simple living with its earthy tones

    SEP 13, 2023 | By Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar
    The living room accommodates furniture from Dtale Modern, a Varanasi series painting by Yuvraj Patil and a built-in bench or katte in pigmented cement oxide. The carpet is an artisanal creation sourced via A Hundred Hands while the brass tray is the creation of local craftsmen. The louvred doors and windows are Dtale Modern designs; Photography by Aaron Chapman
    The dining room with furniture from Dtale Modern and kitchen are connected by a traditional, built-in bench or katte (Kannada for bench) in pigmented cement oxide that runs along the wall. The fans are from Bayside; Photography by Aaron Chapman

    Most weekends when they’re there, Aprameya Radhakrishna and Parinita Narain can be found on the katte (Kannada for ‘bench’) in the courtyard, sometimes with a friendly neighbour, always with some piping hot filter coffee. For the couple, such weekend sojourns are a regular occurrence — the happy result of a long-ago manifesto to escape the city more often, albeit on their own terms. “A weekend home was the obvious solution,” says Shalini Chandrashekar, Principal and Director of Bengaluru-based architecture and design practice Taliesyn (co-founded with architect Mahaboob Basha in 2007), who were tapped by the couple to breathe life into their recently acquired 3,800 sq ft plot in Bengaluru.

    Taliesyn
    The traditional katte, as seen here, is a prominent leitmotif throughout the house, representing many happy memories from the homeowner’s childhood. Coupled with furniture from Dtale Modern the home embraces the outdoors and romances the sunshine by virtue of its lofty doors and windows; Photography by Aaron Chapman

    When it came to the brief, Aprameya and Parinita, who have an eight-year-old daughter, had a checklist ready: open-plan layout, multi- functionality, kid-friendly spaces, and kattes—lots of them. “The initial brief was very simple: just a one bedroom, one bathroom space where they could relax and rejuvenate,” shares Shalini. Adding that for Aprameya—a start-up founder and angel investor, and a fourth generation Bengalurean—it was important that the home nod to its time-honoured neighbours. That meant three things: embracing the vernacular, keeping nature close, and above all, casting the spotlight on the katte.

    Taliesyn
    Holding a mirror to the outdoors, the breeze and sunshine mingle in the central double-height volume of this modern rendition of an old vernacular home; Photography by Aaron Chapman

    For Shalini, the main priority was working out how to retain the mango tree and jackfruit tree that presided the site. “We ended up making several architectural edits to accommodate them,” recalls the architect, for whom the trees were welcome emblems of the past, akin to the architecture around. In a bid to ground the dwelling in the landscape, Shalini lent the 2,045 sq ft structure, the character of a cabin house, with high ceilings, imperceptible thresholds, and cement oxide floors and walls (which were completed in a single sitting to achieve a seamless finish).

    Set along the east-west axis, the house enjoys the sun’s enduring presence. Of course, it isn’t the orientation alone that helps romance the sunshine. It’s also the way the home unfolds, at once upward and outward, blurring the line between nature and the built form. The entrance, marked by a pair of 18 ft tall bifold doors, serves as a curious antithesis to the home’s scale and signature, which is an object lesson in paradoxes. For example, a double-height volume comprising the living and dining areas and the kitchen, also plays host to a mezzanine floor, which houses the master bedroom.

    Taliesyn
    A peep into the kitchen, where Aprameya and Parinita like to brew their customary filter coffee. The bull painting is by Sujith Kumar GS Mandya, while the artefacts are by local craftsmen. The stoneware accessories are Beruru finds; Photography by Aaron Chapman

     

    Taliesyn
    Low ceilings in the primary bedroom conjure a quiet, intimate air. The ash wood bed and nightstands are by Dtale Modern, cushion from Gulmohar Lane whereas the bed linen has been picked up from Spain; Photography by Aaron Chapman

    Likewise, earthy tones throughout the dwelling evoke the Deccan landscape, whilst the cement oxide walls serve as a cooling antidote to the louvred windows and wooden furniture. Below the mezzanine hides a washroom with a full-sized walk-in closet and a concrete basin cast in- situ. For Shalini, the diversity of form and levels is merely a metaphor for the various avatars the home must assume (Aprameya and Parinita imagined hosting friends and family there, so it also had to be suited for entertaining).

    The katte makes a reappearance in the dining room, then again outside, beneath each of the windows, masquerading as an extended windowsill. “We imagined it as the home’s protagonist,” explains Shalini, noting that for the family, most days begin and end on the katte, with filter coffee and unfiltered conversation in ever abundant supply.

    An arched doorway leads into the bathroom, which holds a mirror to the rest of the home with its brooding walls and ceiling; Photography by Aaron Chapman

     

    Below the mezzanine is a bathroom suite with an extended walk-in closet. The fittings are by Kohler, while the wardrobe and mirror are by Hanuman Suthar Carpenters. The louvred sliding door is a custom design by Dtale Modern; Photography by Aaron Chapman

    For Aprameya, the jackfruit tree and mango tree, the friendly neighbours, the katte and the filter coffee are little hat-tips to his childhood, re-lived now through the eyes of his daughter. “It’s as if the decades in between just melted away—it’s life coming full circle,” he signs off with a smile.

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