- Status: Built
- Client: Mr. Dinkar and Dr. Chitra Dinkar
- Location: Thally
- Design Team: Guru Prasanna, Deepa Suriyaprakash, Chandrakanth G.M
- Engineers: Guruprasad Kalkura Associates
- Contractor: Ashok
- Current Project area: 2400 Sft
- Current Project year: 2013
- Current Project Cost: INR 600,00,00
- Photographs: Chandrakanth. G.M
- Materials used : Kooch Kal(Granite fence posts), Oxide finish floor, Terracotta brick and roof tiles, Recycled Wood and Steel etc
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Interlock House, is set at the edge of the Bilikal forest just across the border of Karnataka, in Tamilnadu. The site is part of the valley land, with the forest and mountains as the backdrop. The picturesque site, so remote, had to stay off-grid. Also the client requirement was to look at vernacular concepts to achieve a living house. The house design started with the classic idea of 9 Square plan, and its eventual deconstruction of corners, created a entrance verandah and backside verandah. This also allowed the rooms to have at least two windows each in different direction. The geographical and the metaphorical centre of the house is held together by a spiral staircase, which interlinks the horizontal and vertical movement in the house.
The entire house is built with 4-5 inch thick fenceposts, that are available locally. This reduced the cost of the construction drastically, compared to conventional stone masonry. An irrigation system for the 6 acre land is devised through gravity. A solar pump, pulls the water through the sunny hours to the over head tank, which is periodically disbursed through the natural slopes and canals built in the land. House is also powered through a solar farm at the terrace. The house is considered a milestone in the practice, for the lessons it offered in building and thriving with natural; minimal resources.
