Meister Varma Architects completes Shilaya cottage with salvaged stone in Tamil Nadu

Meister Varma Architects has completed Shilaya, a home in Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu, India, built using stone salvaged from a ruined colonial-era cottage on its site. Named after the Sanskrit word for stone, the house is located in the Nilgiri Mountains, a former colonial hill station known for European-style stone architecture. The design evolved from the memory of the old cottage, with stones reused for walls contrasted by a lightweight steel roof. Principal architect Krishnan Varma noted that extraction and production of building materials are prohibited in this ecologically sensitive region, so the superstructure, including the roof, was made of lightweight steel brought prefabricated from the plains. The house comprises three volumes: a double-height living, dining, and kitchen block with a gabled roof split by a skylight; a bathroom block; and a twin-gabled volume with two bedrooms separated by built-in storage. A spiral steel stair leads to a study mezzanine and a sun deck. Traditional twin-leaf stone walls, half a metre thick, provide thermal mass for warmth during cold winters. The home overlooks a large garden planned for future cottages. Photography is by Syam Sreesylam.