In this conversation, the Bangalore based architecture studio ShoulderTap, reflects on domestic architecture and how it is defined less by enclosure than by the careful calibration of thresholds. In their reading, privacy is not only created spatially, by “closing a door”, rather negotiated relationally and culturally. The house is therefore conceived not as a sequence of seperate rooms. Seperations are used playfully, with interiors that stretch, are perforated, and sightlines, in order to mediate between intimacy and openness.
This position marks a shift from older domestic models in India, where rooms were more rigidly assigned according to function and family role. In the projects ShoulderTap describes, those divisions are becoming less fixed. Clients are increasingly open to more fluid spatial arrangements, shaped by changing patterns of living and by a more liberal understanding of family life.
