Banyan Farmhouse
A working farm residence built around a two-hundred-year-old tree
- Nandi Hills, Karnataka
- 2023
- 6,800 sq ft
- Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Strategy
A residence for a family returning to their agricultural land after two generations in the city — part home, part working farm building, entirely of its place.
The banyan was non-negotiable. The plan wraps it in a shallow C, so that the tree is visible from every room and the house never quite closes around itself. Vehicles stop 60 metres out; you arrive on foot, under the canopy.
Local granite was quarried within 40 kilometres and laid in random rubble coursing by masons from the surrounding villages. The thermal mass does the cooling — internal temperatures hold 7–9°C below ambient through the Karnataka summer without air conditioning in the day rooms.
The programme is honest about the farm. A produce room, a wash-down court and a covered equipment bay sit inside the architecture rather than behind it, detailed with the same care as the living spaces.
What the house isactually made of.
Local granite
Random rubble, quarried within 40km
Mud plaster
Site soil, stabilised, on internal walls
Country wood rafters
Exposed, lime-washed
Terracotta
Handmade Mangalore tile roof
No day cooling
Thermal mass, cross-ventilation and a shaded verandah ring keep day rooms 7–9°C below ambient with no mechanical cooling.
Village craft
All stonework was executed by masons from three surrounding villages, using coursing patterns already common to the region.
The arrival walk
A 60-metre approach on foot under the banyan canopy — the house is not visible until the final turn.
Something like this,somewhere like yours.
If Banyan Farmhouse is close to what you have in mind, tell us about your site and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it.