Krishna Radha Vaithy Residence

The Krishna Radha Vaithy Residence is a constant effort to renovate what was already existing to make it more functional and aesthetically appropriate to suit present-day needs. It was a transition from the pastel peach and orange to the tones of neutral black and dull gold. Working with requirements of three generations of clients brought forth an interesting juxtaposition of break and balance.

Prof. Chhaya’s anecdote from the book Listening to Stillness captures this essence beautifully.

“More persons? So, inhabitant or inhabitants. Suppose there are several inhabitants. They are in a room, and three of them are sleeping in that room. One wants to keep the window open, and the other feels cold and wants to keep the window closed. So, what will happen? What are the ways in which you decide?

Flip a coin? so that no person has a choice, by chance, whatever comes. Or based on maturity, meaning age. So, it may be the age that the eldest decides or the youngest decides. What else can be done?

…so, can we extend this house? Is it a single? When you say I go home, do you mean your bed, your room, your building in which you are staying, the group of buildings, the neighbourhood, the area in which you are staying, the city where you are going, the part of the country where that city is, so which will be? What is a house? What is a home, I’m going home means what? I suppose you have gone to London, and then you tell your friends, “Now I’m going home”. So, you will say, “I’m going to India”. Then you arrive in Hyderabad, and you say, “I’m going home”. At the airport, you’ll say, “Please take me home”. What do you mean? But my home, and when you see that group of buildings, and you see the people, and you see the maid who comes every day, and you see the dog which is in the street all the time, you feel, at last, ‘I’m home’, even if you have not entered your house.

This is a very large kind of area, but we design what? We design the container. We design a container for containing a certain number of human beings at a certain temperature and humidity. Do we design like that? What do you think we should do? So, what is a house? That question we will leave hanging for a moment.”
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Aptly, the process was enchanting. Thought to detail, learning of the daily routines of the different users, their anthropometric requirements, on-site decisions for evolving situations, improvising measurement techniques for arches on-site, dialogues with workmen and being mindful of the debris from site enthralled us as architects. Many interns participated in dialogues and delivery. Renovation enhanced the quality of space. Travelling to stores, choosing stones and tiles, creating patterns, the long search for a grey fiber sheet of the desired texture, matching the new grills to continue existing patterns, convincing the labour to execute the details as envisaged created many tales. Converting dead spaces to hidden storage, chrome finishes of faucets, provisions to bring in more natural light inside the space alongside the contrivance of adding ceiling lights without adding false-ceiling, created the new notion of a larger space. The experience was refreshing with many cups of homemade filter coffee and customized diaries as return gifts for all the designers. Continuing Prof. Chhaya’s conversation,

“Home is the place we got to go back to”.
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The project continues to hold relevance as we’ve become regular customers to the neighborhood pani-puri seller, the cats and dogs have befriended us and we continue to greet the happy users when we walk past.

Team acknowledgement

Designed and executed by Akarmaa Designs
Team members: Zubair, Sahiti, Shubhankari, Parikshith, Amulya

Subcontractors
Carpentry – Dinesh
Plumbing – Ravi
Electrical – Hassan
Stone work – Balram
Polish – Ashish Yadav
Tiles work – Yakkaya
Fabrication – Ayuf
Painting—Someshwar
Glasswork – Cera
Lighting – Mirza & Hassan
Mirrors – Hitesh Bhati
Plants – Sahithi
Cleaning – Srinivas

Photography: Space into frame

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