Project: Flintstone6 House
Architects: Mitti
Location: Kodiga Timmanapalli, India
Area: 1.937 sf
Year: 2022
Photographs by: Syam Sreesylam, Roshan Satish Paliath
Amid urban uncertainties and the COVID-19 impact, Mr. Abhishek Ubale and Mrs. Sunaina bought a farm in Sanctity Ferme, a sustainable community near Bangalore. The Flintstone6 cottage seamlessly integrates with nature, using Debris Wall Construction due to material shortages. Featuring parallel walls resembling the Rocky Mountains, the cottage has composite Casuarina-glazed and ferrocement roofs. Minimal and neutral interiors incorporate reclaimed materials for sustainability.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and consistent lockdowns causing shifts in our routines and growing uncertainty about the future of urban life, Mr. Abhishek Ubale and Mrs. Sunaina from Bangalore decided to buy a farm in Sanctity Ferme, a farming community on the outskirts of the city of Bangalore. The community, which was practicing organic farming techniques and promoting its vision of consistent contact with the natural surroundings, was already planning for sustainable model houses for the residents. This became the perfect opportunity to explore the possibility of how we can build sensibly in untouched virgin landscapes.
The idea was to camouflage the building into its surroundings, so, as to not stand out as an eyesore in the scenic landscape. Also, the COVID situation posed a limitation on the availability of raw materials, compelling us to focus on incorporating the available materials like soil and waste into the building using a technique called as Debris Wall Construction.
Flintstone6 is designed as a modern building with a sustainable flair, hidden inside a Mango grove amongst the arid landscape. The 2-bed cottage has a multi-functional hall with an open kitchen. The house has parallel walls on the northern and southern sides that mimic the characteristics of the Rocky Mountains in the Cauvery basin region. Trees cohabit with the building, making it an extension of nature.
The composite Casuarina-glazed roof acts as a sundial and the composite Casuarina-ferrocement roof doubles up as a party terrace. The Stair-room was inverted to avoid building an upper storey which would have been an obstruction in the neighbors’ view of the farm.
The Interiors were planned very minimally and subtly toned down to not steal the thunder of the Debris Walls using a neutral material palette. The rock bed in the master bedroom is a reclaimed quarry waste piece from the nearby abandoned quarry. Basins have been carved out from granite boulders picked from landfills. Some of the furniture also has been made from reclaimed wood, thus tying into the theme of the house of reusing and being sustainable.
The landscape is designed keeping in mind the arid theme, corresponding to the region’s dry climate, composed of indigenous cactus plants, granite quarry waste for the paving, and river stones lining up to form a koi pond.
Flintstone6 is an abode rooted deep in nature, humbly blending in, to do its job – to be invisible in the landscape.
-Mitti
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