Tropical home on stilts is one with the palm trees

Propped up on slim steel stilts, this weekend home outside of Bengaluru, India, feels right at home with the coconut trees that surround it. Architecture firm Parallax designed the sleek house as a weekend getaway that would have minimal impact on the lush landscape.

The three-bedroom home is designed as two separate volumes. The main house stretches into a rectangle that’s perched atop an array of staggered poles. A concrete block in the middle adds stability as well as a staircase entrance to the elevated part of the house, which includes two bedrooms and an airy living room opening up to a wall of glass and an expansive balcony. A separate annex sitting closer to the ground contains extra bedroom as well as the kitchen and dining room.

The exterior’s most striking feature—aside from the glimmering pool—is a checkerboard facade of fly ash blocks that allow air to flow through while creating a glowing patterned effect when the lights are on at night.

Praveen Mohandas

Praveen Mohandas

Praveen Mohandas