Many locals leave their Kerala hometowns sporadically every year, and migrate to the Middle East in search of better career opportunities, only visiting their hometowns during annual vacations. Ranjith and Renu, a couple based in Dubai where traditions and cultures are poles apart from South India, wanted to pass on their values to their children, Jay and Nanda. A strong urge to build a family home with an affinity towards tradition coupled with contemporary styling was what they aspired for, so every visit to the house kept their children rooted to their family values.
Their desire culminated into a 3500-square-feet standalone home named Traditional Affinity in scenic Kozhikode, executed by Nikhil Mohan and Shabna Nikhil, of Thought Parallels. The ground floor has a living room, dining room, puja room, entertainment room, an open kitchen, a utility kitchen and a master bedroom while the first floor has two bedrooms, a stair hall and a covered terrace which has since been converted into a utility space.
A Tropical Home
“The humanistic desire to be culturally connected to one's surroundings is reflected in the harmonious design; a typology which can be identified to architecture in God's own country,” Nikhil says. A climate sensitive design with sloping roofs and large overhangs was positioned to combat Kerala's relentless monsoons. Semi-permeable spaces such as patio and large expanses of the veranda from the dining room take advantage of the beach city's tropical climate for natural lighting. Its linear horizontal lines and vast cantilevered roof weave around the resident trees, and large expanses of glass blur the spatial boundaries between the garden and the house. One feels unrestricted while walking through the open plan of the living spaces, which are demarcated from one another by sliding bi-fold doors and in some cases, no barriers at all. Instead of having conventionally demarcated spaces, the house spontaneously responds to its surroundings by choosing to dwell upon gratifying views from strategically placed rooms. The straight flight, folded plate steel staircase coalesces with the lightness of the spaces around it.
Science and Traditions
In keeping with the client's desire for a vastu compliant house, the placement of spaces in the house is in sync with the plan of the Vastu Purusha Mandala. Thus, the positioning of the main areas of the house is according to the elements—master bedroom in the Earth Zone (South West ), kitchen in the Fire Zone (South East), and entrance in the Air Zone (North East). The dining, open kitchen and family seating is concentrated in the central hall, which is the prime space in the house. It has ventilation from all four sides of the room, which acts as the lungs of the unit which breathes and distributes air to different parts of the structure. The roof has sound heat and water insulation combined and detailed out. There is a blank wall behind the terrace which cuts the heat from south direction. The edge detail of the roof is also a custom design for the project which gives a razor sharp end profile.
Contemporary Twist
Despite relying heavily on interpretations of vernacular architecture, the architects used state-of-the-art building materials to mimic age old techniques. For the flooring Thought Parallels used Italian marble from Marble Centre in Bangalore. The modular kitchen was fit on site by Venita Cucine while the sanitary fixtures were sourced by Grohe Lighting. While most furniture were custom made, some soft furnishings were procured from OED Elements, Mattancherry Kochi and Califab in Calicut. Then there's electrical by Legrand, terracotta Mangalore patent tiles for the roofing, laminated glass from Saint Gobain, hinges and fixtures by Hafele and finally, air conditioning by Mitsubishi. The bungalow embraces an open layout and an apparent airiness, but Shabna admits that the turnout was very different from what she first encountered when she took on this project. “The plot was extremely narrow—there was a well right at the entrance and there's a dense residential presence at the south side of the urban edifice.
But Thought Parallels was able to convert the plot into a private sanctuary well shrouded from the private neighbourhood. “The approach was to respond to a traditional science of building, extract its essence, yet arrive at a fresh and innovative interpretation of the same,” Nikil says.
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