New from the old

“I have converted one floor of my grandfather’s home into my office. So the office has an old world charm and is close to my heart. Keeping in mind that I’m selling a service and not a product, I didn’t even need to be on the main road,” says architect and interior designer Yeshwant Ramamurthy.

Yeshwant turned around the two-bedroom place but also kept the essence of the place alive. “We still have wooden beams on the roof, red oxide flooring etc. We have smaller rooms for different purposes. But the best part is that there are a lot of trees around the place, so there’s no need for air conditioning also,” he says.

Interior designer Padma Somireddy who turned an old farmhouse into an office says, “The place is very well ventilated and that saves a lot of money on electricity.” She adds, “It was an experiment and has been done very economically. We created a functional space for about 25 employees. We kept the old structure, including the pillars, otherwise the building would lose its strength. The outer walls were not strong enough to hold electrical fittings, so we had to expose the wires. We built only half walls for the rooms for good ventilation and to make way for natural light.”

Padma says that it is essential to check that the building one is renovating is strong enough. Architect and interior designer Pavan S. Dev, who took over a building that was built in 1970s to convert it into his studio, says, “The stability of the structure should be good enough. Don’t drill too much into the old structure, instead create fake walls around it. Keep water leakages in mind. And yes, toilets have to be redone completely. Change the façade of the building without interfering much with the structure. Also, change the floors and doors if they have decayed and make sure the place is termite proof.” Pavan adds, “Old buildings are sometimes stronger. There is a lot of ventilation too. Remember to retain the interesting elements of the old building.”