The Courtyard House By FADD Studio | Hosur, Tamil Nadu

Project: THE COURTYARD HOUSE

Location: HOSUR, TAMILNADU

Square footage: 6300 Sq.ft

Year of Completion: APRIL 2020

Photo credits: Gokul Rao Kadam & Ashish Sahi

Styling :Samir Wadekar

Firm name: FADD Studio, Bangalore

Builders: SPA group, Bangalore

Architects: DKP architects

Simply put, the Courtyard House is a home of dreams. Nostalgic and traditional Indian elements come together with Spanish/Mogul/Moroccan motifs to create magic in a space that has no walls differentiating the inside from the out. The architecture and interiors are tightly woven together to tell a story of patterns, colours, textures, and materials which are all carefully curated within each room.

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The entrance is a spectacular vision of blue skies, green lawn, angular roofs, a deep mustard wall, and a dramatic walkway that creates shadows as a result of a laser-cut pattern on the roof. The same design is then reflected in the pavers which bleed in a deconstructed manner into the lawn. The water body on the left consists of square platforms of different heights that play hide and seek with the tropical plants and a gorgeous frangipani tree. A bright blue wall hallmarks the entrances which are composed of a solid wooden door and an old block print piece as the handle. The landscape was designed to ensure that the interiors and architecture were an extension of each other.

One of the most striking and exceptional features of the home is a set of columns that make the home stand out against any other. They create the Kerela style courtyard feature for the home. Instead of hiding them as structural elements, we chose to highlight them with a patina finish paint above and hand painted motifs below. Each column is different and unique and sets a very distinct sensibility to the home. And especially so, because a lot of them are experienced against a deep mustard passage wall that runs the length of the house from inside to the outside.

The colours of many furniture items are derived from here and so are the room concepts. Another element that needs highlight is the door detail. The bedroom doors are teak and combine a patina louver at the bottom, a Kasumi glass above that is sandwiched between an MS grill detail making it elegant, delicate, and unusual. All outside door and window frames are done in patina, an inspiration from Bawas architecture in Srilanka.

The home uses a grey IPS in all the common areas such as the dining and living. The dining room is bold and rustic. A stone wall that wraps to the breakfast area is also the backdrop for a larger-than-life log table that is paired with typical Sri Lankan leather chairs. A brass light hangs above; an antique blue wooden carving is perched over a greenish console; the roof has teak wood trusses and rafters interspersed with banana fiber and track lights run on either side to illuminate the space with soft warm light. Bamboo baskets adorn the other wall. The combination of materials used here may be a mouth full, but they come together in a way that only enhances the best of each imparting a dichotomy to the home – it feels homely and country style and yet plush and luxurious at the same time.

The living room is the central space of the home and is surrounded by columns. Needless to say, the living cluster is more subtle that the motley pillars that it is housed within. However, it holds its own with a gorgeous vintage patchwork rug, a pair of beige sofas with a black tapestry-like motif; a pair of indigo chairs, and a parrot green sofa. The family area is a combination of a blue sofa, a driftwood console, a patchwork blue chair, and blue ceramic accessories. The breakfast table is distressed white and looks most inviting against the bare stone wall. Most of these pieces have been sourced from Anthropologie Home in the United States even though most are made in India.

The bedrooms are delightful and different in their use of colours and patterns derived from the columns. The wooden ceilings in the bedrooms make them warm and cozy and also enhance the pitch in the roof.

The master bedroom has a four-poster bed in blue. The floor which is a cement pattern tile in blue, green, and grey also wraps behind the bed making it difficult to decide whether the floor or the bed is the pièce de resistance of this area. Two wooden chandeliers hang down and add grandeur. The olive and ochre room uses a heritage pattern tile in Kota (green), Jaisalmer (yellow), and peach. An olive bed paired with white accessories and lights creates the perfect balance between subtlety and vibrancy. In the red room, a solid crimson wainscot meets a bold, black, grey and red floral cement tile. A simple wooden and black metal lights add sophistication and elegance. The bathrooms of all rooms continue each story with the used of their room colours respectively.

To simply say that this house is unique isn’t quite enough. Uniqueness isn’t the USP and uniqueness without history and context is less than enough. While this home is certainly unique, it is very much more than that. It is the very first home that FADD signed with only 2/3 years in the industry.

It has been a labour of love for 6 years. In addition to our minds, we put our hearts and souls into each and every detail. From the louver and metal elements on the door to each motif on all the 12 columns; from creating patterns from a tool kit with infinite options to collating the complementary textures and colours of each area; from knowing when to use an abundance of material to showing restraint when needed; from ensuring the outdoor landscape was synchronized with the interiors to making sure the interiors were synchronized with the client; and finally, from transforming our initial trepidation into steady confidence to making audacious strides and creating a home that only dreams are made of.

One more thing...

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