Wingspan

Wingspan is a two-storey house at Rajakkad, in the hills of Idukki. Its roofs give it the name: two mono-pitch planes that lift away from each other, the taller one lined underneath in timber, so the house seems to open its wings towards the road. Under them the walls are plain white plaster with panels of slate-grey stone cladding, and every window is framed in timber. A gravel forecourt runs up to the front, with a carport to one side.

The plan is compact and stacked. A deep porch on slender columns runs across the front, its slab doubling as a balcony above, with steps rising to it on two sides. Inside, the living and dining rooms sit side by side, divided by a partition screen, and the dining room rises through both floors. On the upper floor a bridge passes along this void, so the way to the bedrooms looks down into the dining room. Behind, a main kitchen, a smoke kitchen, a work area and a wash area serve the house.

The house seems to open its wings towards the road.

There are five bedrooms, two on the ground floor and three above, with a covered terrace and an open terrace upstairs. A patterned jaali fills one corner of the upper floor, screening the balcony from the sun and from the road; at night the rooms behind it turn it into a lantern. The balcony ceiling is lined in marine plywood and set with downlights, so after dark the front glows warm. It is a house for monsoon evenings: somewhere dry to sit while the rain comes down, under roofs pitched to throw it clear.