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Architecture

23-01-2026

Photographer : Smit Zalavadia (On The Move Island)

Text provided by Architect

Childhood memories of mud walls and verandas inspire a cool, earthen shelter that offers both comfort and rootedness in the heart of the city.

Amid Bengaluru’s concrete sprawl, Taṇṇeḷalu stands as a quiet counterpoint — a home where mud, lime and light create space for slowness and belonging.

“When I think of my childhood home in Bagalkote,” recalls Shridevi, “I remember the thick mud walls. The threshold was so wide I would sit on it, swing my legs over, and only then step inside. Our days passed gently in the veranda or the garden, sorting greens or reading a book. And when the sun climbed high, we would retreat indoors where it stayed cool and comforting.”

It is from these memories that Taṇṇeḷalu takes its name and its soul. Meaning “cool shelter”, the residence translates nostalgia into a home that is as eco-sensitive as it is rooted in daily ritual. In the dense fabric of South Bengaluru, where concrete houses crowd the streets in near-identical white façades, this house stands quietly distinct. Its earthy walls and deep overhangs seem less like a new arrival and more like something that has always belonged to the land.

The house begins with the soil beneath it. Earth from the foundation trenches was mixed with demolition debris, stabilised with lime and cement, and rammed into place without formwork, creating a base that is literally part of its own site. Above this, nine-inch stabilised mud blocks, hand-cast one by one, rise into walls that breathe with the seasons, holding warmth in winter and releasing heat in summer. On the exterior, these blocks are finished with a mud wash that leaves their undulations visible, a quiet testimony to the hands that shaped them.

Inside, lime plaster coats the walls in a milky white that glows softly in daylight. No two surfaces are identical. Subtle tonal variations reveal the pressure and movement of the mason’s hand, giving each wall a life of its own. The floor is finished in leather-textured Kota stone. Its undulated surface is both practical and poetic: it prevents slipping as the clients grow older, and when sunlight grazes across it, the ripples shimmer like water, turning function into beauty.

Bangalore,Karnataka,India

Architects	:	Out of The Box
Area	:	2500 sq. ft.
Year of Completion	:	2025
Website	:	https://www.instagram.com/ootb_ecoarchitects/

South Elevation of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

North Elevation of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

East Elevation of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

Entrance Porch of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

From the entrance veranda, where a tulsi katta marks the threshold, the house flows inward to the living and dining areas and onward to the kitchen. Here, east-facing windows catch the morning sun as it rises, filling the space with golden light. “For our clients, mornings are lived outdoors,” reflects architect Harshita Tophakhane. “There is the purifying bath taken under the open sky, flowers plucked from the terrace garden for puja, tea sipped by the tulsi katta. The house simply gives form to a way of life that already valued slowness, ritual, and nature.”

Throughout Taṇṇeḷalu, there is an insistence on honesty. Jack-arch roofs are left with a mud wash rather than plaster, allowing their hand-built effort to remain visible. Timber beams, doors and windows are polished only with natural oils, their hues deepening with time. Bathrooms are finished in oxide plaster, seamless and tactile. Chappadi stone columns carry the marks of quarrying. Every imperfection is not concealed but celebrated, grounding the house in craft and memory.

Living room of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

Pooja room of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

Kitchen of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

Corridor of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

Staircase court of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

The plan unfolds in an L-shape around a double-height stair court. From clerestory windows high above, daylight spills down into this central space, while warm air rises and escapes, drawing cooler air in through shaded openings below. The house needs no air-conditioning. Even in the rising heat of Bengaluru summers, the family finds comfort in the soft breeze that drifts through the rooms. In winter, thick walls and lime plaster contain warmth, while operable clerestory windows keep it gently sealed.

Staircase view of Taṇṇeḷalu by Out of The Box

Above, a terrace garden extends the home’s relationship with nature. Fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers grow here, supplying the family’s kitchen and rituals. Herbs are brewed into traditional kashaya, flowers are offered at puja, vegetables are gathered for daily meals. A swing under a small pergola makes this terrace feel less like a rooftop and more like another garden. “When we sit here with tea or sort vegetables,” Shridevi says, “it feels as though we are on the ground, in the middle of our own farm, not on a first floor terrace in the middle of the city.”

Even the external walls participate in this dialogue with climate. The uneven surface of mud bricks creates tiny shadows on one another, reducing heat absorption through the day. Deep overhangs protect the walls from rain, edged with slim granite strips. Rainwater harvesting channels feed the groundwater, solar panels heat water, and discreet modern systems provide convenience without intrusion.

In a neighbourhood of fast-built, concrete houses, Taṇṇeḷalu stands apart. Guests often remark that stepping through its veranda feels like leaving the city behind, as if arriving at a farm or a retreat. Yet this is no spectacle. Its beauty lies in what it chooses not to hide: the texture of hand-cast blocks, the ripples of stone, the marks of craft. “I wanted nature to be a collaborator, not an accessory,” says Tophakhane. “And I wanted the house to age with dignity, the way the memories it was born from have endured.”

Taṇṇeḷalu is not just a shelter from the city. It is a home that listens, adapts, and slows time. A place where light shifts, air moves, and materials remember, allowing the family to live with comfort and rootedness in the midst of a hurried world.