Barnhouse

Whitefield, Bangalore.

2024

Project Team : Anupama Kundoo, Sonali Phadnis, Yashoda Joshi, Shreshta Gopalakrishnan, Nishanti Srinivasan, Clara Winterberg

The broad concept of Barnhouse, a restaurant located in Whitefield, Bangalore, is represented as a holistic awareness of food, body, mind, and environment. This is expressed through its key activities: optimised local urban farming through hydroponics, a conscious cuisine made up of locally grown ingredients, interactive social spaces for creative activities, and indoor and outdoor yoga spaces that double up as performance spaces. The design is accordingly based on selecting materials that, being natural and locally sourced, facilitate this programme geared towards an overall wellness of mind, body, and soul.

The material language and patterns that make up the formal language of Barnhouse are developed as contemporary interpretations of the local building cultures. In their use of vernacular material practices, and the simultaneous deviation from its traditional associations, the language defines the contemporary and forward-facing concerns addressed by the restaurant, while addressing how it builds its solutions on existing knowledge. In continuation of the “farm to fork” philosophy of food production and distribution, the methodology followed similarly makes the production and distribution of the materials used much more direct, thereby leading to sustainable and equitable processes.

The main floor areas of the restaurant are treated with modern interpretations of the ancient tiles arranged in contemporary patterns. The patterns of the red agra stone on the floor act as orientation lines, guiding and defining circulation, and demarcate the multipurpose nature of flexible furniture arrangements in the space. The red agra stone cladding on the walls similarly utilises age-old materials and craftsmanship, arranged in modern patterns, creating an engaging texture and a human scaled elevation. This pattern is echoed in the pizza bake oven, which features Achakal bricks, an ancient pre-industrial brick. The brick serves to suggest the element of “fire”, drawing parallels between the language of a brick kiln and that of an oven.

The semi-outdoor alfresco areas are a continuation of the sculpted quality of ramps that are expressed in light and dark granites, with hand crafted textures. When read together with the diner benches, comprising the same materials, they appear as an assembly of strips of granite, rising and falling to create pathways, steps, and benches. Forming the front elevation of the restaurant, it provides an immediate understanding of the core concept of Barnhouse : a contemporary manifestation using age-old wisdom.

The restaurant also features several rocks and boulders, with minor carvings to enable their use as sinks, basins, including one impressive 3m long rock that serves as a bar counter. The boulders being left in their untreated, rough state, serve to connect patrons to the natural environment that the cuisine of the restaurant is inspired by.

Image Credit – Nishanti Srinivasan, © Anupama Kundoo Architects