Graceful Porous Corten Steel Screen Wraps This Residence in Trivandrum | Ego Design Studio

The creative team Abhilash U A, Niranjan C Warrier, Aravind T, Sudheesh S at Ego Design Studio has redesigned and renovated a double-story house in Kowdiar, one of the posh neighborhoods in Trivandrum. The project dubbed "An average city transmute (001)” is located on a 4 cents plot sited in a residential neighborhood, closely packed by concrete buildings on two sides, the road on the front, and a two-story-high retaining wall behind. As the house barely gets fresh air and light in the site due to the dark pockets, the team decided to clad the house with a perforated sculptural Corten Steel facade that allows an interplay of light and shadow inside the building. Long-lasting and corrosion-resistant, the tarnished patina and texture of the material give an expressive and stunning appearance to the building. The firm has shared more interesting details about the project with SURFACES REPORTER (SR), Take a look:

Also Read: Kumar La Noce Adds Perforated and Functional Metal Facade To This Apartment in Bangalore

The client was a retired man, who wanted a signature home for his kids and grandkids where he would be a regular visitor. He needed an open house with gardens around, keeping most of the existing structure intact. 

Setbacks

The existing building could barely breathe in the site. The setbacks were dark pockets, the front yard an interlock paved parking yard, and the backside shaded by the tall retaining wall.

This project by the firm is an exploration of a typical urban small site with existing dilapidated concrete buildings. This is an endeavour to remodel and refurbish existing old concrete buildings with minimum demolition. 

Vital Transformations

While most interior walls were demolished to open up the available space, exterior walls were altered mostly only to increase window sizes, hence converting the available setback yards to small open spill-over courts. The congested old building was opened up to create democratic spaces for today’s living.

The demolished structural walls were replaced by I beams and the new electrical system was encased in open conduits. Most new structural and service interventions were exposed and painted in bright colours to exhibit the new additions to the old structure. 

Also Read: Corten Footbridges Serve as a Roof for the Helfštýn Castle Palace, Czech Republic | Atelier-r

Corton Steel Facade

The southwest side with high heat gain being the only side with potential views was opened up, and a balcony was attached with a porous Corten steel sunscreen.

This sunscreen provided an image of the house to the city and a pixelated image of the city to the house. 

Blurring the Lines Between Interiors and Exteriors

Small urban plots with minimum setbacks create pockets of building yards that turn into dump yards or unused spaces. The project tried to explore continuous spaces within an existing wall framework blurring boundaries between exteriors and interiors. 

The house and site is a continuous garden where each human-inhabited space has its green compound wall garden.

The existing building levels were respected keeping the footing intact and the porch in place, the old living room was demolished to provide for a verandah and garden opening up into the small front garden and road.

Project Details

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