Big-Little House is a small house with a small footprint built on a small plot but with large volumes. What makes this house large? One-fourth of the 1500 square foot plot is empty and left unbuilt for a garden. All the major living spaces, viz., the double-height living room, the family space, the dining, and the kitchen, are tied together by the fact that they all inhabit a large volume that overlooks the garden.
The car park was deliberately lowered in height such that the kitchen and dining that sit over it remain connected to the garden volume. This configuration led to split levels on the upper levels, which in turn helped bring down the overall volume of the building. The upper floors housed two bedrooms and a master bedroom with a common terrace.
The plot was situated right next to a eucalyptus plantation. For us, this was nothing but a vertical extension of the garden, and it gave the bedrooms upstairs a beautiful view as well. All elements in the living room, such as the staircase, are in metal so that they are light and see-through, making the living room and garden read as a single space.
The front façade of the building was designed as a brick screen to conceal some of the service areas, like the utility space, which was placed at the front of the building as per Vasu. The facade was an experiment in stacking bricks on the edge to create a playful surface. A large metal box cuts through this to create a connection to the street from the kid's bedroom.
