SAMPLES OF STUDENT WORK
THE SLEEPING CHAMBER U20043 My memories of my home in Noida go back to 2007, when our family had moved into this house for the first time. My father’s job forced us to constantly move between different cities every 2 to 3 years. But after 6 years of hopping to different cities, we finally came back to Noida and settled in the same home. My father decided to renovate the house when we moved back in. The room I live in right now, although being the same room I had as a child, is completely different. One of the most integral changes to the bedroom has been the merging of my room with the balcony. The partition wall has been broken down and completely removed to merge the balcony and the room into one. The metallic grill covering the balcony has been replaced by French windows in order to make the space more modern. Earlier since the balcony wall blocked natural lighting in the room, we depended on artificial lighting. This new spacious room with east facing windows allows the sunlight to fall in and make it warm and cozy during winter mornings when I am curled up inside a thick blanket. The breaking of the partition wall has created a vast seating area under the windows. If one wants to sunbathe in the morning they can spend it in the seating area. This is possible because the windows are situated right above the make-do couch at a perfect height due to the sill being at a lower level. The bookshelf filled with books and art supplies is within hands reach from this cozy seating area. This makes this the perfect spot to spend leisure time reading books, doing artwork or playing music on the guitar. The experience of spending time doing leisure activities is enhanced by the surrounding brick and concrete walls. The light beige colour of these walls reflects light well and makes the living space look bigger, hence adding visual depth and an illusion of space. Paired with a subtle coved white ceiling (the edge where the ceiling and the walls meet) it adds to the visual appearance of the room. In contrast to the warmth provided by the walls, the teal coloured curtains cool down the space by absorbing the harsh sunlight during afternoons and evenings. This colour palette was chosen to make the room more contemporary and simple. The walls encloses the room in a simple rectangular space with indentations in them to accommodate wardrobe and furniture pieces. The queen sized bed fits snugly in the entrance area. The headboard is again very simple without any fancy railings to match the style of the room. However, since the room has a narrow width, the bed almost touches the entrance door when opened and creates a very narrow space to enter and access the other part of the room. This makes the overall layout of the room a bit inefficient, but the extra balcony space makes up for it. The wall on the other side of the bed has another small window with a metallic diamond shaped grill. This window is usually kept closed as it is broken. 109
