1868 house

Primarily a conservation project.

Conservation of a 150 year old riverside dwelling in Kerala leads to recognizing in adaptability to requirements of its fourth generation inheritors. The relevance of thermal comforts of courtyard typology with respect to different living patterns is variable. The tower and block forms and the dialogue between old and new tries to negotiate these differences.

existing condition

Intention was not to create a romantic image of the past but to rather use the remains of the past as a stimulus to present aesthetic interest and philosophical interpretation. Architectural experience is of the present but also exploits accidents and collisions, juxtapositions and relationships that were in the building before our encounter with it.

On a building that already had many layers from the past, adding a new imaginative layer results in a poetic and complex solution rather than a mere restoration of parts.