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A textural statement
HEMA VIJAY
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Lovejit and Vishveshvaran's home in Neelangarai is an elegant mix of materials and colours, all adding up to a rustic yet comfortable ambience
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Lovejit and Vishveshvaran, and their home in Neelangarai
Location: Neelangarai
Architect: Gautam Seetharaman, Center for Vernacular Architecture
This is a house that revels in textures. On the outside, grainy-surfaced, rusty-red blocks of natural laterite stones share space with grey stone walls, making for a warm-hued façade. Sloping tile roofs cap the walls. Inside, the house takes on a different colour tone and radiates a sense of the sea. The blue-white accent of the sea has been swept into the house by the pure-white tones on the walls, and the gleaming, sea-blue athangudi tiles for the floors. Though plastered, the white tones on the inside walls reveal the grooves of the underlying stonework, making for an inbuilt design element. The focus on texture continues with the terracotta-dung and stone murals on the far wall, created by artist Pradeep. Alongside the mural is a coconut wood-lined stairway that takes you to personal spaces on the floor above. “We wanted a house that felt rustic, and yet comfortable”, say Lovejit and Vishveshwaran.
On the first floor, the wall surfaces are all smooth, though they still carry a pure-white tone. The textural effect here comes in the form of uneven slate tiles on the floors, which are a delight to walk on.
The house also has a number of cozy verandas flanked by stone pillars which carve out shaded threshold spaces for experiencing the outdoors. A word about laterite blocks: They weather well and actually grow stronger with time.
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