Banyan Tree House / Tales of Design Studio

Banyan Tree House / Tales of Design Studio

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Text description of the architects. Located on a river bank in Mampully, the Banyan Treehouse is for a young couple and their two children. The plot covers an area of ​​630 m² and has an interesting L-shaped plot profile. The spatial planning of the house follows the terrain profile and is anchored around an existing banyan tree in the western part of the site. For safety reasons, an 11-foot buffer radius is maintained around the banyan. This shaded area houses the garden seating. BTH floor slabs branch through the site in an angular grid to form a series of interaction spaces and green spaces. The spaces are positioned to create a visual connection between themselves and the landscape without compromising privacy.

The three bedroom house is a one storey building with a mezzanine and has a constructed area of ​​2000 m². The neighborhood faces rising water levels during monsoons due to its proximity to the river. Therefore, as a precaution, construction spaces are positioned at the highest point of the elevated property. This helped create a large sloping front yard, a buffer zone of fruit and flower bearing native vegetation to protect the home from road traffic noise and dust.

Geometric shapes are carefully translated into various design elements, creating a distinctive design language. This visual continuity is established in aspects of flooring, joinery, interior furniture, skylights and the overall built form. The house’s shell with its stilts, slopes, dynamic geometry and protruding structural panels gives the house a sculptural appeal. Projecting panels of varying degrees on the facade provide shade in summer and shelter from rain during monsoons. Bespoke design is BTH’s core ideology, it is applied to built-in furniture, front door handles, railings, wall decorations, artworks, hand-made concrete birds and ground covers.

Doors, windows, jali bricks, porothermic vents and skylights are strategically placed to enhance indoor comfort through cross ventilation, chimney effect and natural lighting. Natural air circulation and lighting help reduce household energy consumption. The patio becomes part of the dining area and is an added attraction as the dining area is the traffic core of the home. Space-saving built-in niches are used for housing shelves, wardrobes and hand washing. The south side of the house has fewer openings and high window sills to counteract the heat of the sun. Full-height windows tend to face north to bring more indirect natural light into the interiors.