Reweave Stories, Interior Design for an apartment at Bengaluru, by Architecture Dialogue

Reweave Stories, Bengaluru, designed by Architecture Dialogue.

This home is a dignified apartment, a design that creates the feeling of home, creates a relationship with nature and does that in the outskirts of Bangalore, India in a non-boastful developing context.

The base point or the shell itself was a great starting point, at it has a large verandah and generous garden space at the heart of the house that creates a connection to the outdoor at the 6^th floor. Considering that the context of the site is in construction and prone to dust and sound of construction, all the views are filtered using plants and trees. ^{The intent was to make it a home, reflect the personality of the architect and enable him to use his house as a testament to change.}

This is not a newly conceived space; rather it is a narrative of the change that has happened over time and the snapshot of the current life of the architect owners, who are art enthusiasts and have a two year old daughter.  To make space for their needs, the kitchen was opened up with a breakfast table and the dining area was converted into a sitting space with a console and chairs. This space becomes the heart of the house as it provides a place for people to collect and connect during gatherings and also allows their 2 year old to have the much needed space to play around.

The dining is pushed into the verandah that is enclosed by a glass partition opening out to a paved garden. What was originally a soil garden is now converted into a paved area with local limestone with open joints and edges left open for plantation. There is lemon tree, tamarind tree and palm in the space and the edges planted with tomatoes. Their plant enthusiastic daughter uses the space as a play area and to pluck her tomato harvest.

The apartment has an eclectic collection of Modernist chairs scattered in each space. These are the owner’s heirloom Pierre Jeanerette chairs with their signs of use and age that form the major seating along with modernist office chairs for the local Electrical factory that they themselves have restored. All chairs, side tables, tables and benches are antiques or restored modernist furniture. The apartment is also the canvas to showcase art work that are priced collection of the owner along with some that are created by them. Each wall is used to house art work collected over the years. The house represents experience of life as an ever changing and aging process, this is a used apartment that keeps accommodating based on the requirements and updates to the collection.  It makes a case for creating spaces that are inspired by meaning, through the traditional, the local, art, artifact, furniture, textile and green. Each space is layered with meaning through items or collection that are unique, antiques or historically relevant paraphernalia. Like furniture, the lighting carefully selected and are vintage. The lighting is creatively repurposed for a new use and is forged by fabricators in a crude beautiful way that honestly shows the process of converting them.

The project is about natural materiality in a humble apartment with color, tactility, art, artifacts, and plants to create a natural and warm space that can be called home. 

Gallery

Drawings

Project Facts

Project Name:  Reweave Stories
Office Name: Architecture Dialogue
FIrm Location: Bengaluru, India
Completion Year:2023
Gross Built Area (m²/ ft²):1470 ft²
Project Location: Bengaluru, India
Program / Use / Building Function:Renovation of Apartment
Lead Architects: Vikram Desai, Harpreet Kaur
Photo Credits:    Phosart Studio