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Architecture

2021

Photographer : Justin Sebastian Photography

Never before had a pocket sized plot felt so larger than life. Tucked between a dense cover of palm trees and the backwaters of Varapuzha, here time seems to pause and takes one back to an era gone by. Local fishermen sail by in their wooden canoes selling their fresh catch from the sea, the summer breeze coaxing a gentle psithurism that lulls one into a nap and the seagulls squawking as they glide over the backwaters all day long. This seemed like a different world the very first time they visited the site and each time thereafter. For a family who has lived over six decades of their lives in metropolitan cities across India and abroad and who always wishfully yearned to have a place of their own in their native land; they probably couldn’t have chosen a more idyllic site.

The project commissioned to us had layers of expectations. From that of a holiday home for the globetrotting client to a home where his septuagenarian parents could have an enriched retired life. With a brief so clear and a context so strong, ideating a design concept couldn’t ever have been easier.

Varapuzha,Kerala,India

Architects	:	Studio TAB
Area	:	3600 sq. ft.
Year	:	2021
Website	:	https://www.instagram.com/studiotabindia/?hl=enagram

Living room of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

Dining of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

All throughout the project timeline, they ensured that they respected the context where they are building. This involved a detailed climatic study to reduce the dependency on artificial thermal comfort, studying and working with local materials, engaging local craftsmen to build and create using traditional techniques and ensuring the project is an honest effort in giving shape to the client’s idea of home. The concept was always going to be a contextually driven one. Of all things natural and local. The space had to be a getaway from the urban jungle living. A home where aesthetics meet sustainability, where form and function come together to create a space that dreams are made of. A home that’s non pretentious and rooted to the nature.

They put in 4 months of time before actual site work to study the local materials, understand the local craftsmanship and scan the by lanes of the ancient Mattancherry market. Their objective was to go back in time to create a design that remains timeless.

Dining and Kitchen of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

Kitchen of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

Pooja area of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

Pooja area (Mandir) of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

Upper floor seating area of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

Bedroom of Villa by the Backwaters by Studio TAB

They involved local artisans and craftsmen in shaping the laterite blocks, creating age old practice of lime plastered walls, recreating ancestral furniture with comfort specific interventions, custom designed handmade tiles and other designs as a contemporary ode to the bygone era. They also visited dilapidated houses in and around Kochi and sourced out old woodwork from there so as to salvage and restore them within this project.