Designing Teju’s Living Room



Our final task for helping Teju with the design of her new home in Pune India is in the living room. In the last post we proposed a solution for the dining room that included a built in banquette beside the stair to the second floor. With that done the original living/dining space can now be used just for living room furniture.


There are three steps to the design process for this room. The first is to define the circulation zone through the space. We think it should be located adjacent to the dining table and the existing concrete column. The second step is to define a focal point for the furniture. We think that this is best accomplished with a piece of built in millwork that wraps around the existing column. The television is mounted on the front side of this unit facing the living space. A storage unit in the back extends the length of the unit and blocks the view of the bathroom from the living room. The final step is to arrange the sofa and chairs around this focal point. We propose a cushioned ottoman instead of a coffee table to provide additional seating for guests.


Watch the video to see how we bring all of this together into a design proposal for Teju’s living room.

Teju’s Living Space Solution:


  • http://profiles.google.com/srdan.nad Srdan Nagy

    John and Matthew,solution looks good! 
    The only problem with space is that it is missing few feet in width…. then it would be great….  
    P.S. the apartment looks great… open and modern… reminds me a bit on Kanchanjunga apartments in Mumbai by Charles Correa…. 

    S.N.

  • Anonymous

    Hello John and Mathew,
    Its a solution I had not even remotely thought about. I couldn’t think the column could actually turn into a feature.
    Here were my thoughts on the living dining layout. The kitchen layout is simple parallel platforms with island on one side with breakfast bar.

    Option1- This has a extend-able  5 seater dining table aligned with the kitchen island and is integrated with the column. I think this helps to visually reduce the impact of the column in the space and with good detailing could feel like part of the furniture. We are still not sure if we want the TV to be the focal point of the living room so the TV is placed near the staircase so the living room seating is still looking toward the garden and the TV too is in comfortable viewing distance. The center tables can be moved below the staircase for a more open layout. Furniture pieces like bench are multi purpose for indoor and outdoor use.

    Option2- the dining table is placed in location as suggested but in this option the width of the table is compromised. Placing a office table near the entrance and kitchen would be useful and that also get the column out of the way which visually increases the width of the room. In this option a roll down projection screen was proposed to have a cleaner look and again to keep the focus on view towards garden. Since we might place the TV in family room upstairs this could work too.
    These were my initial thoughts but your inputs have got me thinking again in other directions which I might have not explored.

  • Anonymous

    To be fair with the architect of the project ours was one of the few units which faced this problem, other units have more width and few don’t have the column in that location, but this unit did fit the bill for all other criteria for us, like orientation, good sized garden and utility (very rare in Indian cities now) budget, location and overall layout.
    Teju

  • http://irene-turner.com Irene Turner

    Very nice use of small space and love the support/chimney in the middle of the room! LOVE