Contemporary Residence Concrete Mise-en-scène

Artist and architect Dominic Dube, is known for his painter’s instincts – both to create and to hold back from creation – that constitute the art beyond skill, and make him one of India’s most interesting working architects. Here he is in conversation with Kamal Khokhani, Publisher of INSITE, on his artistry in concrete on a residential canvas.

The clients are a young Indian Family, travellers for business and discovery, art and music lovers, in the fire of modern life, but traditional and contemplative by nature. Fantastic trees surround the land they acquired in Bangalore with no views else than within. The self-brief given by us was to create an island of peace to counter the noise and hectic city sounds.

Visually the residence was conceived to be a modern structure carrying the spirit and warmth of the palace/fort culture. The design program is a five bedroom residence with all facilities. The soul of the entire structure is a mathematical design and construction grid to assure proportions and harmony. The concept is a cube of four floors matching all the Vastu requirements, flanked by trees all around the plot.

What inspired you through the design and execution journey?

The challenge was to leave the space to light and structure, and never clutter the space, but to respect the clarity of the simple structural grid. This entailed the selection of shuttering to get the proper textures and life from the imprints left by concrete. The execution has been a process of making all of us available to what was manifesting in front of us with respect to the original vision/concept, with no alteration to the design.

Tell us about the spatial planning?