The Sleeping Chamber

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 The metallic grill covering the balcony has been replaced by French windows in order to make the space more modern.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.

Under the grilled window the air conditioner has been placed since that place is pre-designated for incorporating the AC. Extreme summers often get slightly uncomfortable as the air conditioner is placed at such a low level and the cold air is not distributed evenly throughout the room. But the marble flooring compensates for this by not heating up and cooling the room. This also proves to be helpful as it allows us to walk with bare feet inside the room without our soles being burnt off. My sister and I interact with the room almost similarly. We both are very much into arts and crafts, as one can tell by looking at the wall, so intuitively a generous amount of our time is spent in our miniature studio space at the desk. This desk is placed right in the middle of the room beside the column of the earlier balcony. A generous amount of natural light reaches the desk as its not much far away from the windows, and thus allows us to work smoothly. Apart from the generic use of my bedroom, it is a great hangout spot for me and my friends. We usually have snacks and refreshments and play board games or talk while either sitting on the bed or the make-do couch depending on the space required. This room is a cozy space physically as well as mentally. I have spent the entirety of my days in this room during childhood as well as now. In the architectural aspect, the space doesn’t fail to serve the purpose of providing the bare necessities like comfortable temperatures, spacious room and a private space. The walls create a warm atmosphere, the vast windows allow us to look beyond the personal space and the layout provides ample space to live comfortably. These different elements of the space come together as a whole to create a better living experience.

Figure 2: The United Balcony Note. The image on the left shows the balcony before the partition wall was broken down. If this had not been done, the room would have been exposed to outside weather and dust at all times since there is no enclosure, by D. Saxena. Copyright 2021 by D. Saxena.

Figure 3: A Narrow Passage Note. The bed takes most of the area and leaves a narrow passage for entrance. The movement around here can get cluttered when guests decide to show up, by D. Saxena. Copyright 2021 by D. Saxena.

Figure 4: Contrasting Windows Note. The grilled window has not been renovated and is similar to the one in the balcony when we first moved in. The new French windows allow more sunlight to pass through relatively to grilled windows and also look more modern and contemporary, by D. Saxena. Copyright 2021 by D. Saxena.