Red Rocks Villa : TURRET MAGAZINE

Red Rocks Villa

When we were moving back to India from the US, I and my wife had formed a fair idea about the kind of home we wanted to build and live in; and it was not the usual house you often see around here. We wanted something simple, but functional with a lot of open space, plenty of light and fresh air. From our previous experience, we knew that it is difficult to find a builder who would build a house based on our ideas rather than forcing their ideas on us. And hence we are glad we found Mr. Prashant @ Turret Builders.

1. Exterior Views

We moved to Trivandrum, and my Institute campus was coming up in Vithura. So we decided to build a house in Nedumangad since it fell somewhat midway between the city and Vithura. I met Prashant since he was overseeing the construction of the second floor of the house which I was renting at that time. When I learned that he is from Nedumangad, I conveyed my plan to build a house. He immediately offered to help. One day he drove us to show a piece of land near Nedumangad. By the time we reached the property, even before seeing it I had told him that I am not interested since it was about 4 km from Nedumangad town. As he was turning his car around, I thought, since we were already near the property, let’s view it. It was about 50 cents of land, about 20 feet above the road level! When we climbed up, the view from the property was superb, and we immediately decided to purchase the property. So, together with two of my colleagues we bought the property and divided it among us.

2. Kid’s Bedroom 3. Some of the Birds sighted on the property

As I said before, we wanted an open house plan; a functional home with plenty of light, fresh air. Turret Builders drew the house plan based on our ideas. My architect friend Mr. Velayudha Kurup helped us with finalizing the house plan and the elevation. The living room flows into the dining area, and the roof is at double the average height. An opening to the kitchen with a breakfast table is very convenient on busy mornings. Large windows (7 x 7) let a lot of fresh air as well as light into the house. Double height roof and plenty of ventilation holes near the roof keeps the house cool. We do not like the distraction of television when entertaining guests. Hence we kept the TV in the upstairs living area. To keep the look simple, we decided to go with an off-white colour throughout, with a couple of walls splashed with colour. One such wall in the living room is one of the main highlights of the home. The handrails are also kept simple without any decorative features. We had collected small artefacts during our trips to different countries, which we used as decorative items throughout the house.

4. Upstairs Family Area 5. Some of the artefacts

7. Living Room as viewed from upstairs 8. Dining Area and Pooja Room

We have finished three years in this home, which we call “Red Rocks Villa.” The inspiration for the name comes from ‘Red Rocks Amphitheatre.’ in Colorado, the USA and reminds us of the best times we had in our lives. In the last three years, we have planted several fruit-bearing trees (guava, mango, jackfruit, litchi, rose apple, coconut, etc.) and flowering plants, which attracts a lot of birds. So, it’s not just us who call this home; there is a family of sunbird and a kingfisher who live on our property. Barbets visit whenever there are ripe guavas! And sometimes, we wake up to the noise of a group of babblers.