Duplex apartments becoming popular in Chennai

Chennai

In the previous decade, a flat was the only term used to refer to a house on a single floor. While a few real estate agents still use this term to describe a flat spread across two storeys, many developers in the city are making their housing projects more attractive to the customers by offering duplex model apartments.

These projects are catching up among people because it is not just gaining in popularity for the comfort factor, but also has lesser insurance cost. Moreover, it is of great assistance to senior citizens, who get a chance to remain in a large family and also get their own private space.

So what exactly is a duplex apartment? It can be defined as an apartment spread across two floors, connected by an inner staircase, though many of the new apartments have open-plan designs, like those developed by Vishranthi’s Coconut Grove in Velachery and Omshakthy Agencies in Avadi and Ambattur.

“Developers are now offering a larger variety, when it comes to duplex apartments,” says R Ramachanthran of Omshakthy Agencies (Madras) Pvt. Limited. “Part of the reason is that planning rules require them to mark out a certain space of family units. The duplexes qualify in this regard. At Avadi, we are currently constructing villaments, which are a blend of villas and apartments. There are no fewer than 16 duplexes on offer, each of which costs around Rs 50 lakhs.”

R Rameshkumar, an architect who recently worked on a duplex apartment project says, “The duplex projects, which have been introduced in the city, are now making a big foray into the smaller towns as well. They offer a segregation of space, clearly demarcating the formal and informal living areas and permiting their integration through vertically flowing space, linking the lower and upper floors. By splitting the floor plate at two levels, the window area per unit floor area gets doubled, making the space more airy and bright. Moreover, it enables shortening the average distance of living areas from the window wall, thus providing more sunlight in the interior space. In order to make duplexes more convenient for the residents, the low-height and broad stairs are designed such that it makes the stairway easy to walk on.”

G Madhavan, who owns a duplex apartment in Coconut Grove, Velachery says, “We didn’t like any of the flats that came up in the city three years ago. We were thinking of a smaller apartment. When we found out the duplexes were available, we took a closer look just out of interest and we zeroed in on that. It was exactly what we wanted, at a price we could afford,” he says. Perhaps, the fact that duplex apartments provide the space of an independent house within the constraints of a flat have made it quite popular in the city.

Source: Times Property in The Times of India, Chennai