Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Solomon House

This is a project by Ashwin Architects and it is located at Ramamurthynagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Project's program: Single family house. There are nineteen images for Solomon House.

: © A. P. Ashwin

Project details

Project name: Solomon House
Location: Ramamurthynagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Program: Single family house
Area: Site Area: 2,200 sf (40’ x 55’ N-facing) • Built-up Area: 2,600 sf
Year: Completion: 2010
More details: Cost of Construction: INR 4,700,000
Client: Shane Solomon
Project by: Ashwin Architects
Team: Principal Designer: A. P. Ashwin • Design Team: Hema (Sr. Architect)
Others: Contractor: N. M. Constructions (N. Meganathan)

Project images

Designer's statement

Planning has been based on an open-format to visually enhance the size of the internals & give it that spatial quality so crucial to define a space without boundary. Continuing the same theme on the vertical, we have generated a split-level plan which unifies the building with visual connectivity as well as providing extra space on a limited site size. Functionality has been given equal importance and not just the form.

The building skin has been extensively treated with incisions, subtractions & additions which have resulted in a balanced composition. Steel has formed an integral part of the structure to symbolize modernity & impart an element of sleekness in design.

The form has taken black & white as base colours & interspersed with various shades of grey. This monochromatic effort stylizes the play of light & shade on various surfaces. Strategically placed lights focus on certain planes & put the rest of the building in silhouette to dramatize the whole composition.

The internal & external courts have sandwiched the dining area taking the ‘built’ into the ‘outside’ thereby removing the ‘finite’ separating the inside & the outside. The spatial control elements form an important part of this design.

The external court receives a high back towards the compound to enable a modicum of privacy. The stone slabs arranged in a ‘U’ format form the seating area. The internal court is topped with a skylight which filters light into the house continuously. The first flight of the steps leading upto the living area is flanked with a light well. The floor slab extends to the outside to form a small patch of elevated garden.

The site is a north facing property measuring 40’ East to West & 55’ North to South located in Ramamurthynagar, which is a suburb of North Bangalore city, India. This is a typical site in the urban limits. The building is a column & beam structure with solid cement blocks as the wall materials. The roofs are basically concrete slabs with steel reinforcements. The external & internal surfaces are cement plastered.

The internal finishing materials are a combination of vitrified tiles & marble for flooring, granite for the staircase, ceramic tiles & granite for the bathrooms.

This, being a contemporary design, has a lot of steel elements; some are structural and some are aesthetic. Certain external cladding materials have been imported from Thailand due to their extreme weather-proof nature.