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For Telugu Medium in Hyderabad, India Sona Reddy Studio references the local vernacular

Deccan Decor

For Telugu Medium in Hyderabad, India Sona Reddy Studio references the local vernacular

(Pankaj Anand)

Hyderabad is India’s fourth-largest city and a major southern capital of technology and culture. Located on the Deccan Plateau, its warm, inland climate has also inspired a beautiful vernacular architecture—one that local architect Sona Reddy Studio sought to emulate in a new, buzzy restaurant called Telugu Medium.

Cofounders Malvika Rao, Anil Karnati, and Rohit Medisetty brought on Sona Reddy to create a unique and immersive experience for guests that invokes the heart of the city’s vibrant culture. What’s most striking about the new 5,200-square-foot dining space is its creative and varied use for a local building material: brick. Employing forms from barrel vaults to free-standing arches, the spaces are porous and warm, working with rather than against the local climate.

All these domes and vaults sit on load-bearing walls. This choice to recall traditional building practice is not only an homage to Deccan vernacular, but also a sustainable move: these techniques minimize the building’s use of concrete and steel, materials that require arduous extraction of resources and bring with them a significant carbon footprint. By contrast, the bricks and mortar used here are natural, local, and of course biodegradable.

Read more on aninteriormag.com.

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