Architecture &
Interior Design
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Sholinganallur Compact Home
Nine hundred square feet on paper turned into considerably less once the mandatory setbacks were subtracted from every side. The couple, both working from home some days, still wanted a proper living room and a study that didn't double as a hallway. A tall order on a plot that size.
The answer was to stop thinking of the house as one floor and start thinking of it as a stack, with a light well cut straight through the middle to carry daylight down to the ground floor instead of leaving it to borrow whatever came through the front door. The study sits on the top floor now, away from the street noise, with light from directly overhead.
- Site
- 900 sq ft plot, setbacks on all four sides
- Brief
- A living room and a separate study, for two who work from home
- Materials
- Exposed concrete frame, light-well glazing
- Status
- Completed 2022
A closer look
Light wellCut straight through the stack to carry daylight down to the ground floor.
Top-floor studyAway from the street noise, lit from directly overhead.
StairThe only circulation the plan could afford, so it does more than one job.