It is a virtually 140-year-old construction, constructed throughout the colonial period as a membership for the Englishmen who had made the picturesque Kodagu their dwelling. Nestling amidst the thick greens of the sprawling espresso estates, the Bamboo Club, constructed in 1886, had significantly weathered with time, displaying a number of inaccurate interventions to satisfy altered functionalities in addition to handle structural repairs.
What architect George Ramapuram of Earthitects seen whereas taking on the restoration of this heritage construction was random additions. Starting from an asbestos roof on the façade to make-shift bogs and rooms on the rear of the constructing, the interventions had been completely out of sync with the unique plan and language of the constructing. “The interiors were dimly lit because of limited access to direct sunlight. A false ceiling had been added to the ballroom to stem rainwater leakage, and this further added to the dinginess besides cutting down on the volume of the interiors,” factors George.
Modifying the arches
Given the weathering structural kind, George determined to start out the restoration by first addressing the a number of arches that lined its expansive corridors. While retaining these a number of arches, George determined to deftly tweak their form a bit to visually increase the person arches. This was complemented by higher detailing delivered to the columns to boost the colonial visible enchantment. “The originality of the individual arches was not tampered with; in fact, it was painstakingly retained to ensure they existed as a cohesive unit post the intervention to expand the sprawling verandas,” he states.
Tiling it proper
His subsequent line of intervention addressed the Mangalore tiled roof, which had an intrusion of asbestos through the years to cowl the extra rooms introduced in to satisfy numerous useful necessities. “The original structure came with a tiled roof, and the asbestos was brought in much later. This becomes clear on inspecting the shift in the gradient of the roof, which marks the beginning of the asbestos,” explains George. The asbestos roof was dismantled as half of the intervention, on the entrance in addition to the rear of the constructing, with the Mangalore tiles prolonged to cowl the open corridors.
The rain protect
Kodagu is legendary for its copious rain, with many areas reporting flooding throughout the peak monsoons. Sensitive to this, George created a big overhang of Mangalore tiles in the entrance of the constructing to shelter the doorway and the interiors from heavy seasonal rains. “The overhang of the tiles was extended to a height of about 2m to cover the eave board, a basic requirement to shield the interiors from the heavy rains,” he explains.
Incidentally, George didn’t cease there however created a porch on the entrance to facilitate automobile drop-off throughout these heavy rains. A driveway was thus created over the expansive steps resulting in the doorway gate of the membership. Given the ragged state of these steps, George introduced in a design intervention over the identical, the place their structural kind was redone to lend aesthetics. George went additional to inexperienced the panorama across the steps, apart from retaining the present bushes round it. Black Kota stone was used to put the treads in stark distinction to the luxurious greens surrounding it, thus providing the membership a grand entry.
Energising the interiors
The subsequent stage of intervention was the interiors that required main transformation, given their dowdy state with scant infiltration of pure mild. “The interior spaces came with their defined functionalities, each evolving over time based on emerging requirements. However, the spaces came with very limited natural light, affecting the functionality as well as the energy of the individual zones,” elaborates George.
Given the colonial interval of the construction, the interiors initially got here with excessive quantity, “yet there were no skylights to let in natural light into the spaces”. Worse, the principle congregating room, which was the ballroom, had been fitted with a false ceiling to arrest water leakage throughout the heavy monsoon intervals. “This reduced the volume of the interiors, making them feel smaller and also dark with the low level of natural light.”
George then started his intervention in the interiors by first dismantling this false ceiling to reveal an present double-height ceiling. This robotically elevated the inner quantity of this congregating area. The presence of the double top additional enabled him to create a mezzanine flooring over the bar space to miss the inner courtyard. To visually connect with the outside corridors, George opened up the present home windows each vertically and horizontally. Lending heat to the interiors is a wealthy play of wooden, that includes as reapers and planks on the partitions, staircase treads, flooring, in addition to the ceiling.
Intervening sensitively
Further, arched openings had been created to allow ample daylight to stream into the ballroom and bar space, apart from lending a way of grandeur to the interiors by their presence. In tune with this design intervention, George additionally elevated the peak of the doorway doorway, making the interiors seem bigger and extra open. “While these interventions were executed, utmost care was taken to ensure the essence of the original structure was preserved through the restoration”, factors George. Even the unique furnishings was meticulously retained the place potential, thus retaining the interventions restricted mainly to the structural restoration.
“While the club features as a strong recall of the colonial structural form, the elements of the same have, over the years, been absorbed into the native style of the Kodagu region to adapt to the prevailing local conditions. This explains the presence of some of the local architecture of Kodagu in the structural form”, elaborates George.
Restructuring the rear
The rear of the membership had witnessed haphazard additions to the construction in the shape of altering rooms, make-shift bogs to satisfy altering useful necessities. These had been fastidiously eliminated and changed with giant arched home windows. The Mangalore tile roof extends over this as an overhang across the hall that runs by means of the principle construction. Random rubble wall and a colonial-inspired balustrade border this open hall. Crowning these interventions is the insertion of a big exit door that options over a flight of steps, lending a composition to the rear part and its exit, an analogous grand characteristic as lent to the principle entry.
Published – April 25, 2025 07:30 pm IST
