Brickly Affair: A Modern Urban Residence
The Brickly Affair residence reimagines the city home. We used a porous brick facade to create a breathing skin, balancing privacy with light, while keeping interiors playful and functional.
The 'Brickly Affair' residence at twilight. The warm illumination highlights the intricate pattern of the exposed brick facade, transforming the building into a glowing lantern and revealing its unique architectural texture.
The main facade of the residence, featuring a parametrically designed brick screen. This element acts as a second skin, providing shade and privacy while allowing for natural ventilation and a dynamic play of light.
This composite image shows the relationship between the final built form and our architectural plan. It illustrates how the design of the brick facade corresponds to the layout of the interior spaces, particularly the open-plan kitchen and living area.
The open-plan kitchen and dining area is the heart of this home. We designed the pantry to extend seamlessly into a dining table, creating a central hub for family activity that overlooks both the garden and an internal courtyard.
The staircase and integrated bookshelf is a favorite feature, loved by the children of the house. The design uses simple mild steel rods to create a visually light but highly functional structure for books and display items.
We designed this kids' room with a suspended mezzanine to double the usable space. The ladder provides a fun and adventurous way for the children to access their upper-level play or sleep area.
A cozy reading nook overlooking the courtyard. The space is defined by warm materials, including wooden shutters and a mud wall finish, with a skylight providing ample natural light for a peaceful retreat.
About this collection
We often get asked if a brick facade is purely aesthetic. In this residence, it acts as a functional filter; the parametric screen manages light and ventilation, effectively cooling the interiors while shielding the family from the immediate bustle of the street. It is a dual-purpose layer that changes the internal climate as much as the building's identity.
The facade is the project's signature, but the true utility lies within. Our focus here was on spatial efficiency, demonstrated by the suspended mezzanine in the kids' room—a clever intervention that creates a secondary floor within the vertical volume of a single bedroom. It transforms a standard space into an active play area without compromising the floor footprint.
We integrated the library directly into the central staircase using mild steel rods. This was not just about storage; it was about activating a transition space, making the act of moving between floors part of the home's daily engagement. By keeping the kitchen, dining, and living areas open and centered around the courtyard, we ensured natural light penetrates deep into the core, a necessity for dense urban plots in Bangalore.
Whether you are considering an exposed brick facade for your own home or looking for ways to maximize vertical space with mezzanine levels, these design principles apply to any high-density residential site. We prioritize building techniques that age gracefully, using raw materials like brick, concrete, and metal that require minimal maintenance while developing character over time.
Greyscale Design Studio
We are Greyscale Design Studio, a Bangalore-based collective obsessed with how people live and interact. We build homes that breathe, blending local tradition with contemporary needs to ensure your living space grows alongside your family.
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