A Past Life Echoes Through This Modern Colonial Home In Bengaluru

Before this house became Gopura—clad in Tandur stone, awash in lime plaster, and poised unobtrusively on a 60x40 plot in South Bengaluru—it was a modest late-colonial-style home with deep verandahs that the family couldn’t bear to break down, even though they knew it was time for a facelift. What has risen in its place today is a 4,500-square-foot home that looks back to the past while remaining function-forward: a medley of Channapatna totem pillars, Madhubani and Thanjavur-style murals, and rustic textured materials sourced locally. Designed by Moonmoon Mishra and Nikita Rao, partners at Bengaluru-based Studio Kosha, the house is redolent with nostalgia but does not helplessly succumb to it.

“Gopura is a dialogue between the past and the present, because this home carries a deep emotional connection and the clients were very persistent about not demolishing the pre-existing structure,” shares Moonmoon Mishra, Principal Architect at Studio Kosha.

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A Passion For Culture

The family’s brief was clear but stylistically paradoxical: to build something that stands out in the densely populated suburbs yet does not look out of place. Part renovation and part new construction, the home begins with a double door painted in an invigorating shade of teal, evoking the charm of a villa connected to nature. This leads through a cloistered wicket entry into an Art Deco-inspired foyer adorned with Madhubani murals from the Ramayana, a Gaja Lakshmi wall panel auspiciously mounted above the lintel, and a swathe of checkerboard flooring.

The house opens into a living room with warmly varnished, handcrafted chairs featuring rattan accents and a genteel coffee table with Channapatna detailing along the legs. A luminous mural of Lord Hanuman, embellished with makeshift gold foil accents, pays tribute to the handicraft legacy of Thanjavur. Materiality becomes a poetic homage—to Tandur stone, a fine-grained limestone used for centuries in South Indian architecture, reflecting sunlight in smooth yellow and beige tones; and to the ceiling rafters that lend the space an airy grandeur.

The clients had specified the Bhāgavatam Purana as a keystone inspiration for the design. Carrying the imagery forward, a longitudinal framed wallpaper of inscriptions scales the double-height dining area, while scenes from significant events in Hindu mythology, like the Samudra Manthan (The Churning of the Ocean), appear intermittently in Mughal miniature style. A lavishly aged round dining table in distressed wood is surrounded by vintage mango wood and cane chairs, while a gallery of inward-facing balconies overlooks the scene from above.

The Ballad of Olde Versus New

Set on a compact plot brimming with lush greenery, the triple-storeyed home is a nod to 1920s modernism, when Bengaluru homes began transitioning toward a sophisticated, Craftsman-style, uncluttered aesthetic. Vitrified tile skirting at the wall-floor junction, vintage wooden doors, stained glass inserts, and pumpkin-shaped lights merge traditional elements with modern sensibilities. 

The dining area of Gopura opens into the courtyard at the north-east corner through bi-fold shutters, inset with scrolls from the Puranas and heirloom sarees as an adaptive reuse feature. Tucked into a corner, the pooja space features vibrant, maximalist tiles adorned with lotus iconography across the floor and dado. A litany of hanging lamps, majestic niches carved into the boundary wall, and brass utensils scattered throughout the courtyard firmly situate the home within the pivots of South Indian heritage.

A staircase, framed by Channapatna totem poles and culminating in lime-plastered seating along the mid-landing, connects the home to vernacular building techniques, while woven cane panels and jute accents evoke the handcrafted charm of Bengaluru mansions from a bygone era. When transmuting nostalgia into design, Studio Kosha steps away from ostentatiousness or literal recreation.

Instead, the designers capture familial warmth through their shared proclivity toward mid-century asceticism. Iconic easy chairs with hallmark A-shaped legs, grille windows reminiscent of Bengaluru’s low-rise bungalows, a Georgian-style beige coat demarcating the lower wall section, and handcrafted lighting all come together to underscore a cohesive palette on the mezzanine level.

A Magic Lantern of Memories

There are five large bedrooms in the home, each suite featuring Chettinad two-seater benches, whitewashed walls, tinted glass windows, and brightly printed tiles along the skirting. “The daughter’s bedroom is strategically placed overlooking the double-height dining area,” Nikita points out. “And we have this cute little window with spindle details along the safety railing for the kid.” A sit-out in the walk-in dressing area, finished with printed tiles on the floor and a red oxide ledge for seating, runs the length of the master bedroom—a defining element of architecture in Bengaluru during the early 20th century.

Today, the home stands as a magic lantern of memories for the family. The daughter cherishes how the house brings everyone together, with relatives gathering on the terrace upstairs during the extended family’s potluck dinners. Gopura wholeheartedly embraces the spirit of 1920s modernism, emerging as an inspiring blend of clean, unadorned lines, robust teakwood beams across the ceiling, and the contemporary needs of a multi-generational family deeply rooted in its heritage and cultural identity.

Retrofitting a classical home to make it suitable for modern living while preserving its soul can be trickier than it seems. “We had to carry the emotional connection of the past, keep it relevant to the present, and also make room for the future,” Moonmoon summarises. It’s safe to say that Studio Kosha has mastered this tightrope walk down to its essentials, and as far as Gopura is concerned, it would be hard for anyone not to feel the soft caress of nostalgia the minute they enter.