Narendra Beach House

Narendra beach house was to be on a narrow site with minimal frontage to the Bay of Bengal on the Coromandel Coast north of the ex-French colonial town of Pondicherry; hemmed in on 3 sides by random unplanned structures. Hence the challenge was to create a five bedroom beach house that would be a ‘retreat for peace and tranquillity’. The design follows the natural slope of the land with no cut and fill, respecting the coastal dune formation and regulations.  The built form scoops out small open-to-sky inner courts connected by a transparent walkway from the west entry to the east terraces, overlooking the bay. Each space opens to these screened courts allowing visual privacy from the invasive developments around the site. The walls are exposed bricks in local brick tiles and the intermediate floors are all jack arches in the same bricks. The roof is concrete and thatch for heat insulation. The terraces and verandahs are overlooking the courts and the sea.