Beehive House - 4site architects

Beehive House

Thoughtfully designed modern living spaces balancing privacy and community interaction.

Brief

This plot was East facing with a site area of 2,400 sq ft located in Bangalore. The design brief was to haveresidential multi-family unit of Stilt+3 floors considering the norms of Vastu. Creating a sense of identity to eachunit and its own character in a Multi dwelling unit in urban setting and still keeping them connected. And other factors to be considered where privacy, safety and providing natural light and ventilation. The Concept of this project is derived from Bee hive. As It appears to be rigid from outside but is of porous nature inside.

STATUS

Completed

YEAR

2016

LOCATION

Bengaluru, India

TYPOLOGY

Housing

SCOPE

Architecture & Interior Design

How the project was planned

Although the project lies as a part of the dense urban context, the responsibility was to develop this project as aprotected and a secured entity, and create an ambience of individuality for each of the 6 family dwelling units.The context of the project is such that it gets attention from the other accommodation units that are a part ofthis dense urban context, and one such Boys Paying Guest accommodation facility lies opposite to this plot. Toensure privacy without compromising on bringing in adequate light and ventilation was a challenge. In thedesign, we have taken advantage of this challenge to innovatively curate the privacy screens as a Beehive.

How the project was executed

Stilt level – Pedestrian entrance to the houses has been created by a sweeping roof in the presence of thetraditional Tulasi pot. A separate vehicular entrance with a water body welcoming one into the soothingambience of the inner spaces and landscape on either sides.

With structural supports transformed into seaters. Ground and first floor – Typical floors having common circulation space with private 2 BHK units. A beehive as internal structure is a densely packed group ofhexagonal cells made of Bee wax, called a honeycomb. Concepts have been adapted metaphorically to the structure of the Bee hive as to being heavy on the outside and porous within, with the use of a unique geometricpattern throughout to create a structure that breathes. Breathing honey comb structure creates lit spaces withcontrolled visibility acting as a screening. Providing blank walls on the south and west facade with minimalopening, and keeping the north and eastern facade more porous, brings in light and ventilation.

Second floor – In terms of generating a spatial experience of ground at the 3rd floor Level 2 BHK unit wasdesigned with the court that sits abutting the living and dining areas, connecting the both. This court has alandscaped edging, with the Puja area accentuated as focal point, and the skylight above brings in dramatic lightand shadow play into the house. The swing provided in this court acts as a seater that can be used from eitherside, which allows flexibility in usage of this space. Another sky lit court which falls in the study area of themaster bedroom transforms the quality of spaces in the otherwise neglected areas of the house.

Exclusivity of the project Features like skylights, a welcoming tulsi plant and waterbody, shared common areas, the ‘Bee hive screen‘ as aprivacy barrier, and at the same time a screen that facilitates good light and ventilation, makes this cluster ofdwelling unit stand out amongst the rest of many apartments in the city. Apart from this, Rain water harvesting has been done by providing a rainwater tank to hold rainwater collected, tobe reused later. And, solar water heaters are installed, which help in generating hot water, thus cutting down theneed for geysers for all the 6 family dwellings.

Photos

Spatial Organization &
Design Drawings

HOUSE OF GREENS

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