Homes
Bhat Farmhouse
Earth, stone and terracotta. A building that belongs to its land.
Kumbalgodu, Bangalore · 2006 · 3,500 sq ft new, 10,500 sq ft renovated · Site 12 acres
Mrs Bhat grew up in Shimoga and wanted her farmhouse to feel like a return home, not a copy of it. We kept the old farmhouse and added a new wing, joined by a long gallery that carries her collection of Mysore paintings. The walls are brick with a hollow gap inside that keeps heat out. Floors are warm yellow stone in the common rooms and terracotta, the material of her village, in the bedrooms. A lotus pond along the gallery cools the air and collects the rainwater from both buildings, sending it back into the ground. Everything here comes from somewhere specific. That is the point.