Srijit Srinivas Architects

White Skube House

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

WHITE SKUBE HOUSE

Srijit Srinivas - ARCHITECTS

ARTWORK
Vijibhagavathi

LEAD ARCHITECT
Srijit Srinivas

MANUFACTURERS
Kohler, Decowood, Trojan, Tulip & Hybec

DESIGN TEAM
Remya Raveendran, Sriya, Deepika

CLIENTS
Mrs. Saseendrakumari I., Mr. Jayakumaran Thampy , Dr. Sreejith Thampy, Dr. Anjali P.K, Dr. Parvathy Thampy

TEXT
J. George

AREA
232 m²

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
Thiruvananthapuram, India

CATEGORY
Houses

Text description provided by architect.

The design brief from clients Mrs. Saseenkumari & Mr. Jayakumaran Thampy for their second home on a five cents ( or 202 square meter) property in a densely settled part of Trivandrum city, was a pithy requirement for ‘something special’.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

The building was intended to house their joint family consisting of their son and his wife, as well their daughter – all of whom are medical doctors.

The skewed shape of the restricted plot footprint organically allowed for a skewed cuboid (or ‘SKUBE’) form to emerge.

This was presciently painted in white to augment the sereneness of the morphed platonic form - highlighted as it were by the pandemonium of its busy surrounding neighborhood.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

The functional requirements for the tight site were particularly challenging and consisted of a car porch to house two vehicles, living and dining spaces, kitchen and attached work area, four bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, as well as a family rumpus room in the upper floor.

A bare minimalist approach to design has been adopted to great effect throughout.

The main entrance is from an external verandah via an entry niche into the living room, which then faces a mini landscaped ‘court’ in front.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

The adjoining dining room opens out to a similar feature in the rear allowing for cross ventilation.

This rear court is capped by an open skylight treatment, allowing sunlight to drape the internal walls and to visually denote a vertical link.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

Horizontally also, this space wraps around to the open kitchen plan to form one harmoniously flowing, continuous space.

Adding to this schema is the use of the latticed front façade wall with its neat ‘brick bond’ pattern punctures, which accentuates the visual effect of the pristine white external paint finish, whilst also allowing light and breeze ingress pathways into the building without compromising on the need for privacy.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

In contrast to this, the terracotta louvers screening the balconies to two bedrooms on the first floor, add a splash of warmth and visual interest to the external façade.

The ambitious functional brief for the house left no space for deploying any double height treatments, but this was more than compensated for by judicious spatial planning and the discerned use of proportions.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

The ground floor bedroom too similarly opens out to a courtyard.

The first floor has a total of three bedrooms, in addition to a small open-to-sky terrace space.

The ceiling – with its exposed concrete finish, along with the floors both follow a similar calming grey-based colour palette, whilst the walls are painted white for contrast.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography
White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography

Internally, the staircase and its pared back, almost visceral ‘poured concrete’ design, is cocooned by wall-like screen panel handrail design, ensuring visual privacy for the stairs.

The stairwell also has an ethereal ambience to it on account of the various embedded openings allowing for easy penetration and flow of light, air, and sounds.

This unpretentious house elegantly sits amidst all the visual noise of its surroundings, and is a quiet cynosure of the curious eyes of passersby.

White Skube House
© Justin Sebastian Photography


White Skube House
Plans

Srijit Srinivas Architects
T +91 9447092404
Srijit Srinivas Architects
1, Belhaven Road, Kanaka Nagar, Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695003, India