Architecture and interiors — Bengaluru
A small practice working on houses, quietly.
The practice
Antara is an architecture and interior practice in Bengaluru, working mostly on houses and mostly for people who intend to stay in them.
We take two or three projects a year. That is not a business strategy — it is the number at which the same two people can draw a building, choose its materials, and still be on site when it is being built.
Selected work
Five of thirty-one. The rest are private.
Two Court House
A long plastered house held open at both ends, so the day crosses it twice.
Section House
One room, three levels, and a stair that is also the furniture.
The Long Room
Five openings at one rhythm, and a travertine floor that carries them the length of the room.
What we do
Four things, and nothing else.
Architecture
New houses and substantial alterations, from the first sketch through statutory approvals to the last site visit.
Interiors
Rooms, joinery and materials, whether or not we drew the building they sit inside.
Furniture
Pieces made for a specific room by people we have worked with for years. Usually a table, usually in teak.
Consultation
A day on your site and a written opinion, for people deciding whether to build at all.
How we work
The same four steps on every project, in the same order.
Look first
A day on the site, at the hour you would actually use it. Where the light lands decides most of the plan before anything is drawn.
Draw slowly
Plans and sections by hand until the building holds together. Renders come late, and only to test a room, never to sell one.
Choose few
Three materials, used everywhere. A house with four finishes reads as considered; one with fourteen reads as a catalogue.
Stay to the end
On site weekly through construction. Nearly everything that goes wrong in a building goes wrong after the drawings are finished.
Common questions
What does a house with you cost?
Our fee is a percentage of the build, and the build is the number that matters. For a new house in and around Bengaluru we are usually working between ₹4,500 and ₹9,000 a square foot depending on the finish, and we will tell you which end you are at in the first meeting rather than the fifth.
How long does it take?
Design and approvals take six to nine months for a house. Construction takes twelve to eighteen. Anyone quoting you materially less is quoting for a different building.
Will you work outside Bengaluru?
Yes, and we have — in the Nilgiris, in Goa, on the coast at Alibaug. Distance changes the site-visit rhythm rather than the fee.
Do you take interiors only?
Often. About a third of what we do is inside a building somebody else drew.
Can we see a house you have built?
Once we have met and there is a real project, yes. We ask our clients first, every time.