If you love seeing unique homes that make your jaw drop, this is it! This home features a “breached monolith” that hides a giant light-filled atrium, which Anagram Architects has completed on a busy street in New Delhi.
Named Cleft House, the four-storey dwelling is designed by Anagram Architects for three generations of the same family that wanted a spacious, light-filled home on a dense site close to their factory. To achieve this while maintaining their privacy, the local studio built a stark windowless facade that shields the sun-drenched four-storey atrium inside, around which all the rooms are positioned.
Cleft House’s monolithic facade is made from white marble panels mounted on a steel structure. Marble was chosen by Anagram Architects for its “luminescence”, which is accentuated with sconce lighting. These panels continue inside through the slit at the center of the facade, after which the house is named, before opening up to the skylit atrium. Intended to echo the central courtyard of traditional Indian homes, the atrium forms the heart of Cleft House, and connects all the communal spaces on the ground floor. Its size and form also ensures there is ample natural light throughout the house and its basement, while also facilitating natural ventilation.
The bedrooms are all contained within the upper storeys of the dwelling, which are enclosed by faceted walls and glass-lined balconies that visually connect the rooms. Each of the bedrooms in the house is complete with bold finishes developed to meet the specific tastes of their occupants. These offer a contrast from to the more reserved material palette used in atrium and shared spaces, distinguished by black marble, concrete and wooden details, hoped to appeal to all the family members. Take a look at this gorgeous home below!