Ar. Sowmya Kumar started to design the Kolam House in order to have a well-ventilated beautiful space. As the design progressed, it was beautiful to see the space take shape and to see all the constituents come together to complement each other.
Yesteryears, there were spaces that were left to just sit, relax, talk, think like Muttram and thinnai. These spaces have been rediscovered in this house. For example, In the library looking into the courtyard that doubles up as a chatting space, the sitting slab in the courtyard, the other thinnai in the entrance. These spaces are my favourite to JUST SIT AND BE. The envisioning of the project happened alongside the design progress. They could see the exact vision come to take form as they had everything that was envisioned created bespoke to fit the space and the theme. These bespoke elements that we designed are my favourites. As they were designed keeping in mind the scale, the proportion, the concept, the style, the material, the finish to blend in and work together with all the other elements. Our brain children.
Each of them are different, their own ideologies, how they approach life, the things that they like, and even the way they dress themselves up. OWM architecture believe everyone’s home should reflect on who they are, where they come from and what they believe in. it should be celebration of their life and personality.
Inspiration or references were mostly from the elements of designs that stayed etched in my memory from the places they had visited growing up. These helped to bring this space together. Like any other south Indian, visits to my native town (Chettinad architecture), holidays in Nilgiris (influenced by Brit-Colonial architecture), temple visits (Dravidian architecture) were mostly the inspiration. The ground floor has a carpark, the veranda, living, dining, courtyard, garden, guest room, guest bathroom, dry and wet kitchens, all inside a 260 sq. M. plot. All spaces are naturally well ventilated and all spaces seem big too.
Geoffrey Bawa's tropical minimalism has always been the main referral to fall back on. Living in a tropical climate, there couldn’t be another way of doing a climate responsive design. Along with which, A continuous process of inclusion of forms, materials and constituents from the yesteryears both in the overall scheme to the minute details originated a composition which spoke the local language functionally, aesthetically, and experientially.
The challenge was to take constituents from the above-the Chettinad, colonial and Dravidian architecture that are sustainable and redesign them to fit into a practical frame, while conceiving a climate and site responsive design. This led to the architectural style that can be summed up as tropical -sustainable, pragmatic design.
They believe every single element that defines the design, the flooring, wall finish, furniture, furnishing and even a wooden picture frame and its finish or an external light fitting should all work in unison to create and balance every space.
“Eventually everything connects, people, ideas and objects” - Charles Eames
Therefore, run a furniture manufacturing unit- hOWM bespoke, where all the wood work including the furniture and fenestrations were designed, detailed and finished concept and space specific.
The design primarily focused on having a lot of light and cross ventilation woven into all the spaces of the building. Most spaces in the building do not have air-conditioning and work with high ceilings and ventilators. The sandstone flooring also aides in retaining the optimal indoor temperature.
Reclaimed teak from Chettinad, sourced from two old mansions in Karaikudi and kanadukathan (towns in Chettinad) was used for the joineries and bespoke furniture. Most of the furniture were custom designed to fit the space in both dimension and context from our very own furniture making unit - hOWM bespoke. Few furniture’s were also sourced from Villa saffron, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka. Local Artisans were deployed for carpentry, carving, rattan weaving, wall murals, mud wall erection etc.
All spaces are naturally ventilated. Light fittings used for the interiors are LED and all the fans are DC and Inverter Air-Conditioners. No air conditioners were provided in the common areas. Instead, natural ventilation, high ceiling vents, ample passive solar lighting penetrate inside the building, introduction of thick western wall added in keeping the interior cool. Heigh ceiling (above 14’ in the living) and double height in the dining worked well for accommodating the vents that allowed the rising warm air out.
Sandstone floor retained coolness throughout the day as well. Terracotta roof and floor tiles in the terrace were an added advantage, ample fenestration was provided to buy in maximum passive natural light.
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