Project Location : Maruthamkuzhi, Trivandrum, Kerala
Architectural Firm : Wallmakers, Kerala
Principal Architect : Vinu Daniel
Project Team : Oshin Mariam Varughese, Srivarshini J.M., Gayatri Maithani, Swathi Raj, Keerthi Kausalya, Shiuly Roy, Neeraj S. Murali, Dhawal Dasari Plot Area : 2,174 sq ft No. of Car Parks :2 No. of Rooms :3 Facing : West Built-up Area : 2,109 sq ft Timeline : 2018 - 2020
“In the context of the city of Trivandrum that stands as a testimonial to many of Ar.Laurie Baker’s masterpieces, it seemed fit to modify one of his own intro- ductions, the Rat trap bond masonry technique in this site which didn’t offer the opportunity for soil excavation or for making mud blocks” PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 5
Introduction Located smack in the middle The house is aligned in the East- of an urban and crowded locale of West direction with openings Trivandrum, the site was a small facilitating for maximum cross- plot that was being suffocated by ventilation. other residential projects from all four sides. The idea of this residence was to have an inward facing house with all its spaces opening into a funneling central courtyard. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 7
Pirouetting Walls Keeping in mind that Brick instead of conventional horizontal kilns in Trivandrum is a dying position and thus creating a cavity industry, with people opting out within the wall that increases for wire-cut machine made bricks, thermal efficiency, cuts down on this was an attempt to promote this the total volume of bricks used and local agriculture based industry that is ideal for concealing structural is on the brink of extinction. The Rat members and service ducts. trap bond is a brick masonry method of wall construction in which bricks are placed in vertical position PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 9
Conceptual Planning The idea was developed to form a series of slanting walls that danced left and right, converging only to support the ferrocement shell roof. Each staggered wall has been tailor-made to suit the issue of deficiency in space that this residence posed, aiming to create larger volumes and a feeling of privacy. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 11
Ground Floor Plan
Ground Floor Walking along a sit-out carved into the plinth at the entrance, one enters along a dia- mond shaped courtyard.Other than an enclosed bedroom, the gorund floor is an open plan with a large kitchen space. Scaffolding pipes left behind from the construction stage soon were reused to form the central staircase and the grillwork. Keeping in mind the principle of discarding nothing as ‘waste’ the wooden planks were also pieced together to form part of the flooring in the living areas. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 13
Bedrooms Protected by grills made out of scaffolding pipes, wound in bent cane, the bedrooms serve their designated functions as they’re carved out of the floors and walls, as the same materials are used to define each surface. Floor and selected walls have been finished with grey and yellow oxides. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 15
First Floor Plan
First Floor The curving walls on the eground floor continue to curve along the first floor and straighten as they reach the roof. An informal living space in the centre splits the floor into 2 private rooms on either side. The wafer-like roof structures are steel reinforced arched shells with effective thickness of 2.5cm. They take equal load of respective R.C.C slabs and effectively reduce the overall cement consumption by 40% and steel consumption by 30%.These replace the R.C.C Slab in roofing as they are as strong as 1200 kg/m2. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 17
Discarded scaffolding and cane
Cane has been acquired from the neighbourhood, treated and wound around the grillwork to create subtle screens for privacy and for various furniture. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 19
Section through the courtyard
The Pirouette House features the “Last of the Mohicans” fired bricks as an ode to the stellar practice of Laurie Baker with spaces that are made beautiful by the pure geometry and patterns created by the walls that seem to be coming alive and pirouetting around. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 21
Rat Trap bond
Rat trap bond is a brick masonry increases thermal efficiency and method of wall construction cuts down the number of bricks. introduced by Laurie Baker in Kerala, in which bricks are placed in vertical position instead of conventional horizontal position and thus creating a cavity (hollow space) within the wall that PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 23
Construction Process Architects and masons ideating and building the Pirouette House PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 25
Facade and Location
The moving walls divide the home into functional spaces while creating a varying volumentric experience. PIROUETTE HOUSE | WALLMAKERS 27
