Bangalore · Basavanagudi
Architects and interior designers in Basavanagudi. Our own neighbourhood.
Our studio is on KR Road, a few minutes on foot from Gandhi Bazaar. So this is the one part of Bangalore we know by walking, not by drive time. Most jobs here are one of three things. A family house from the 1950s no longer suits the family. A plot needs a rebuild with a floor to let. Or a flat has been bought in a new building on an old bungalow plot. We can be on your site in ten minutes.
Home renovation · BangaloreWhat we design in Basavanagudi
Old Bangalore, still being lived in.
Basavanagudi was laid out in the 1890s as one of the city's first planned extensions. It grew around the Bull Temple and Bugle Rock. That plan can still be read in the wide, tree-lined streets off Bull Temple Road, DVG Road and KR Road. The houses here span three eras. The oldest date from the 1920s to the 1960s. They have Madras terrace or Mangalore-tile roofs, monkey-top window hoods, red oxide floors and lime plaster. Then come the RCC family homes of the 1970s to 1990s. The newest are G+2 and G+3 rebuilds on the old 30x40 and 40x60 plots.
- ARestoring and renovating old family houses. We bring the wiring, plumbing and structure up to how a family lives now. We keep what is worth keeping: the oxide floor, the timber columns, the inner court, the verandah that meets the street. Masonry and timber roofs get checked first.
- BRebuilding on the family plot. We design a new G+2 or G+3 that holds the rhythm of the street instead of ignoring it. The ground floor is one the parents can grow old in, with a rental or a sibling's floor above. BBMP sanction, setbacks and the conservancy lane at the back shape the plan long before the front of the house does. Our 40x60 guide sets that out.
- CFlats in the new buildings. Interiors for the 2 and 3 BHK apartments now standing on old bungalow plots. They are often bought by families who grew up a street away.
What you get
A studio you can walk to.
- A measured survey of the existing house
We draw what is standing before we draw anything new.
- Drawings that respect the old and specify the new
Kept, repaired or replaced, named item by item.
- Founder review by Ar. Pooja Kothari
The Principal Architect checks every set before it leaves.
- Site visits on foot, as often as needed.
No drive time to budget for, so we come when the site needs a decision.
The decision most owners here face
Restore, renovate or rebuild.
Nearly every conversation about an old house here is really this question. It is usually asked the wrong way round. People start from the kitchen they want and work back. The structure decides it, not the finishes.
Restore
Checked first. The roof and the walls. We look for a Madras terrace or timber-and-tile roof still true, dry masonry, and joinery that escaped the termites.
Usually decides it. Whether the plan still suits the family. Restoring repairs the roof and walls and keeps the plan.
Commonly regretted. Sealing lime plaster in cement render. The wall stops breathing and the damp turns inward.
Renovate
Checked first. The services: wiring sized for two lights and a fan, plumbing buried in chased masonry, the slabs under the bathroom tiles.
Usually decides it. Good bones, an out-of-date plan. The right rooms in the wrong arrangement, for a family that has changed shape.
Commonly regretted. Doing the visible things first. New flooring laid over old wiring gets lifted again within a few years.
Rebuild
Checked first. Whether the roof or walls have really failed, and what the plot can hold: setbacks, floor area ratio, height, the rear lane.
Usually decides it. Floors. A family needing three on a plot carrying one, or a house that will not take another storey.
Commonly regretted. A rebuild drawn as though the plot sat in a new layout, turning a blank wall to the street.
You get our reading on the first visit, in writing. That includes when the answer is that the house does not need an architect yet.
One local thing we plan for
What these houses will and will not take.
Three things shape almost every job in these streets. Madras terrace and jack-arch roofs are strong in the one way they were designed to be strong. They are weak in every other way. So they will not take an extra floor without care. Lime-plastered walls need to breathe. Seal them in cement render and the damp simply moves inward. The conservancy lane (the service lane behind the plot) fixes where a rear setback and a service stair can go. It also fixes the line of the drain. Then there is the street. A Basavanagudi house has always met the street through a verandah, a low compound wall or a shaded step. A rebuild either keeps that relationship or kills it for the whole row. Our position on character is simple: we would rather keep a monkey-top than fake one.
The studio, and the streets around it
67 KR Road.
Aalekh Architecture Studio, 67 Krishna Rajendra Road, Gandhi Bazaar, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560004. A few minutes on foot from the Gandhi Bazaar main road. Visits are by appointment, so write or call +91 98448 14482 first. Find us on Google Maps.
We reach Hanumanthanagar, NR Colony and Shankarapuram on foot. Chamarajpet, Thyagarajanagar and VV Puram are a few minutes further. Jayanagar 1st to 4th Block is across the road.
Being close changes how a project runs. An old house reveals itself when it is opened up. A decision taken on site the same afternoon beats one taken from a photograph a week later. More on how we work is on the studio page.
Questions
Working in Basavanagudi.
Where exactly is your studio? +
At 67 Krishna Rajendra Road, Gandhi Bazaar, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru 560004, a few minutes on foot from the Gandhi Bazaar main road. Visits are by appointment: call or write first.
Can you keep our red oxide floor and wooden columns in a renovation? +
Usually yes, and they are often the best thing in the house. A sound oxide floor can be cleaned and repolished, not replaced. Timber columns can be treated and kept once we check them for rot and termite damage. Most damage to old finishes happens during the renovation. So protecting them is the real work.
Is it better to renovate or rebuild a 1950s house in Basavanagudi? +
The roof and the walls decide it, not the finishes. If the structure is sound and the plan still suits the family, renovating is better value. The expensive part of the building is already standing. If the roof and walls have failed, rebuild. The same goes if the family needs three floors on a plot carrying one.
Can we rebuild with a rental floor on a 30x40 or 40x60 plot here? +
Yes, within the setbacks, floor area ratio and height limits for your plot and zone. The common arrangement here is a ground floor for the parents with one or two floors above. The stair position decides whether the upper floors can be rented out on their own.
Do you handle BBMP plan sanction for old-layout plots? +
Yes, as part of the work. Old plots here often carry paperwork problems. There may be a B khata, an old survey number, or a partition never recorded. Or there is a sanctioned plan nobody has seen in decades. We check khata and title first. There is no sense designing a floor that cannot be sanctioned.
Do you work in Jayanagar, Hanumanthanagar and the areas around Basavanagudi? +
Yes. Hanumanthanagar, NR Colony and Shankarapuram are a short walk from the studio. Chamarajpet, Thyagarajanagar and VV Puram are a few minutes further. Jayanagar 1st to 4th Block is across the road. This is the part of South Bangalore we know on foot.
Related
Walk over, or book a call.
The studio is on KR Road, a few minutes from Gandhi Bazaar. Bring the old drawings if the family still has them.