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Architects: Taliesyn Design & Architecture
- Area: 1920 ft²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Niveditaa Gupta
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Manufacturers: Lutron, Asai Glass, Asian Paints, Philips, Toshiba Air Conditioners, Toto & Kohler
Text description provided by the architects. The new studio space for Taliesyn, a decade-old architectural practice in Bengaluru, is representative of their design ideology that harbors creation and collaboration, an experimental material palette, and sensitivity towards the changing post-pandemic world.
The new studio space for Taliesyn is a quiet reflection of the studio's ideologies and work ethos. The design language is choreographed in a minimalist manner to evoke a culture of inspiration, creation, and collaboration while fostering unconventional studio workings. Located on the southern side of Bengaluru, Taliesyn Studio draws attention to the existing foliage and context through vernacular concepts and biophilic inclusions. Spread across an area of 2400 sq ft, the existing site conditions dictate the overall spatial narrative based on the hierarchy of privacy and a fluid, open-built relationship. Arranged perpendicular to the central court is the two-story studio space along the North-South axis and the material library along the East-West. Garnered from the practice of interactive learning and dialogue, the overall planning encompasses a blend of open and semi-open landscape areas that offer respite from the built.
The Built - Blurring the boundaries between the built and open embraces the biophilic philosophy of the studio. Anchored by a bold exposed framework that forms the structural skeleton, the main studio space encompasses a series of semi-circular arches and built-in metal sections. The double-storey studio space viewed on the exterior by a single tall facade, is broken by volumes on the inside. This single-storey facade is bifurcated horizontally by terracotta blocks on the upper half, and cement arched panels on the lower. While the metal sections homogeneously reinforce the beautiful juxtaposing materiality of the two. Concurrently, the combination of these materials offers visual interest and porosity to break from the heat and allow cross-ventilation.
Displaying a stark contrast from the external experience, internal volumes are staggered to augment visual connections across the studio, pushing the envelope of collaborative learning. The vast expanse of the studio space can be perceived from a single point of entry with dedicated workstations, a powder room on the ground floor, and a mezzanine discussion area on the first. Taking center stage in the interiors is a sage green circular metal staircase that is envisioned to reflect the colors of the surrounding landscape. Built on metal frames, the upper floor is a private sanctuary for the founders and doubles up as a conference and meeting space. However, there is no envelope segregating it from the rest of the studio. Instead, the staircase railing extends further to form a parapet on the mezzanine, overlooking the ground floor activities and the solid bilateral facade. The wall at that level, built with terracotta blocks, is percolated with rectilinear windows that breathe in daylight and fresh air, while its elevated level grants it the required privacy. The washrooms at both levels are camouflaged on the extreme right end and are treated as a tall mass with the same finishes as the wall.
Maximizing natural resources, the alluring terrazzo floors on the ground level are cast on-site using recycled broken chips. At the same time, all the furniture echoes a minimalistic design sensibility, with all the work desks, chairs, and tables crafted on-site with birch ply perched on metal legs. A simple flat roof on top is built in three layers which house a widespread system of solar panels that meets all the electricity needs of the studio, a small step towards reducing their carbon footprint. A rainwater harvesting system is incorporated to reinforce their beliefs for a sustainable future. The material library, originally a shipping container, is retrofitted into the new workspace to build a space that engages the designers to explore, introspect and research the materiality of their projects.
Landscape nucleus - The prevailing site conditions offered opportunities to conceptualize around the exciting foliage, where an existing Indian Beech tree (native Honge Mara) takes the focal point flanked by the built on the South and West sides. The overall site is spatially zoned into spaces for social interaction in the open and semi-open landscape spaces, material research and experimentation, and the studio space. Forming the first entry is the central court, a beautifully landscaped garden laden with a pathway made from stone tiles that gradually bleeds into the building. Spaces that are holistically weaved create an ambiance that embraces the materials' honest untreated characteristics and maximizes their natural physical properties; a Taliesynian form of self-expression. An array of levels have been conceived in the open court, with a semi-open area stilted below the material library is a recessed seating and dining area. Made from hollow terracotta blocks and recycled materials from the site, creating patterns and textures to alleviate spatial curiosity. The premises are open to a landscaped front yard, acting as an inviting space for collaboration, gathering, informal events, and social activities. The lack of any ornate material finishes exhibits the inherent aesthetics of the materials; a sustainable approach manifested in Taliesyn's ideologies and ethos.
The site embodies the pedigree of the design studio that takes a sensitive design approach, embracing materials in the construction process, while enabling a controlled fluidity across spaces. Building on a sense of nostalgia to connect the old studio and the new, this simplistic workspace inculcates the collaborative effort interwoven in the studio’s identity as a practice. The studio for Taliesyn continues to create an engaging dialogue between people, spaces, and objects in an honest and sublime way.
