A Whitefield villa built around one courtyard
The brief from the Ramanathan family was unusually clear: three generations under one roof, a kitchen that could cook for twenty at Deepavali, and somewhere for the grandparents to sit that was not the television room. The plot faced east onto a service road and west onto a neighbour’s compound wall — so daylight had to be earned.
We opened a double-height courtyard through the centre of the plan and let everything else organise around it. The formal living room lost 140 sq ft to make room for it, which the client questioned twice and has not mentioned since.
Materials
Kota stone in a honed finish runs continuously through the ground floor, chosen over vitrified tile because it stays cool underfoot through a Bengaluru April and takes the traffic of a house with two dogs. Teak from a reclaimed stock in Shivamogga became the staircase and the courtyard screens; the jaali pattern is a simplification of one we photographed at the Bidar Fort.
The kitchen is BWP-grade throughout with Hettich hardware, sized around steel dabbas and a wet-grinder rather than around a European appliance catalogue. Brass hardware was made to our drawings in Moradabad.
They were the only studio that asked what we cook before asking what we like. Lakshmi Ramanathan, homeowner
Gallery
Outcome
Handed over in 104 days against a 110-day commitment, at 2.4% over the signed BOQ — the overrun entirely from a client-requested upgrade to the master bathroom. Two monsoons on, the courtyard drains as designed and the teak has been oiled once.
