Farmhouse Sanatana Vedika
What started as a place to retreat over the weekends in the beautiful Kanakapura hilly landscape near Bengaluru, became a place to meet and relax for the client and other guests. The 8 acre linear farm ends into a rocky hill. The house is set in an acre around the middle. The guest house, the meeting hall and the service areas were added later.
The house is designed as set of pavilions along a linear open corridor, facing different directions in a flip flop of roofs extending outwards. The stabilized mud block construction lends earthiness to the architecture and grounds it while the clay tile roof opens the space outwards. The guest room, meeting and service area additions are given a more traditional feel with wooden doors, windows and roof structure and a more local landscape.
A sustainable retreat where earthy mud-block pavilions embrace the rugged spirit of Kanakapura’s rocky landscape.
The site planning follows the land's 8-acre linear geometry. The house is designed as a series of pavilions along a central open corridor. This layout allows the architecture to "breathe" with the landscape. A signature "flip-flop" roof captures views from every direction. It also enables efficient natural cross-ventilation across the spaces. A new arrival court serves as a focal point to anchor the latest additions. The guest rooms are arranged around an open courtyard that overlooks the farm. Nearby, the meeting hall spills out onto the landscape next to a lily pond. Service rooms are tucked into the downslope along the site’s edge, maintaining their own private functional space.
The construction uses stabilized mud blocks to ground the structure. In the main house, steel roof structures and slim metal frames for doors and windows provide a sharp, modern character. The new additions pivot to a warmer palette using glulam (glue-laminated) timber sourced from local neem and palm wood. This sustainable technology defines the new roof structures, doors, and windows, bridging the gap between contemporary engineering and local craftsmanship.
