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Interior

2017

Creating a home that’s not mundane is a challenge in life today. With dearth of space and vertical housing being looked upon as the only solution, people are not left with much choices but to adjust within the limitations of their spaces. The duplex for the Poddars at Ballygunge overlooking the greens of the neighbourhood is our latest creation, smartly resolving this existing issue and contributing further to the upscale lifestyle of Kolkata.

[{"value":"Kolkata"},{"value":"West Bengal"},{"value":"India"}]

Architects	:	Spaces and Design
Area	:	750sqm
Year	:	2017
Website	:	https://spacesanddesign.com/

Comparable to the confection of works of great designers like Mies van der Rohe and Jean Louis Deniot, this house portrays elements of edginess yet affords them a modern twist. The enchanting doorway to the main entrance seems straight out of some fantasy movie that has the ability to transmit us to a different world. It is a finely crafted wooden marvel, similar to the ancient world sacred totems. Past this richness lies the Mine crafted beauty.

The layout follows the footprint of a longitudinal axis which forms the basic skeleton of the duplex. But it posed a challenge in the form of exceptionally minimum width. To overcome this challenge, we at Spaces & Design, planned such a layout which not only minimizes the circulation from one end of the home to another but also infuses the feel of a much broader space. On this template, we provided a central double heighted cut-out creating a visual illusion of a larger space.

We accentuated the cut-out with a skylight bringing in sumptuous amount of natural light, which is also the highlight of the duplex. We have further emphasized it with a 22 feet high waterfall cascading its way through small shrubs, backed by flying butterfly imprinted glass on either sides. This area of the home practically forms the lungs of it. It culminates the elements of nature and creates a fresh outlook. The idea was to create a point of hiatus that intrigues our curiosity. It was to design something that is physically and psychologically comfortable yet unorthodox.

The overall texture of the home has a lot of wooden feel to it. The bedroom floors exhibit the use of engineered wood as well as solid wood in addition to the vivid rendition of wooden furnishings adorning the walls and ceilings. The rest of the house has been inlaid with marble. The open terrace area on the upper floor has Kalappanaickenpatti stone flooring, locally found in Tamil Nadu, with leather weaving at the joints that enhances the visual texture of the outdoor space.

We have carefully looked upon the zoning of the duplex. The private rooms were planned at one end while the other end was allotted to the functional and semi-private spaces. Two informal sitting areas have been strategically placed at the center of the long layout to form family centres and making them accessible from both ends. The formal living and buffet styled dining area, placed purposefully at one end of the long axis are opened up only when the family hosts a party.

We took a smart approach and divided the formal lounge into two sections with strikingly variant personalities. While one space exhibits transparency and is open to the outside world divided by a glass barrier, the other space is acutely private and exhibits a very cozy and restrictive personality. We have tried to assimilate certain noteworthy points in the home seamlessly into the design. We made use of the projecting chajjas to create outdoor decks.

The scaled up chess pieces in the living room are surely something not to be missed out either. Be it the bright orange couch in the formal living or the Captain America themed carpet in the children's room or the variance of curios we used for interior décor, they all intimidatingly bring an entirely different aura to the space. On the face of it, our design is simple and unassuming, yet it is also quite varied and complex in its modulation of space. Endowing the Poddars with such quality of living has indeed been one of our major milestones.