Echoes Of Kerala Architects

The voice of Indian as well as Kerala architecture hold its own importance in architecture in our daily life, The use of vastu is a booming trend between elite builders. Here we are exposing the life of  some of the legends in architecture who have Kerala roots.

Laurie Baker

Indian Coffee House,Trivandrum

Laurie Baker : Laurence Wilfred "Laurie" Baker (2 March 1917 – 1 April 2007) was a British-born Indian architect, renowned for his initiatives in cost-effective energy-efficient architecture and for his unique space utilization and simple but aesthetic sensibility. Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, he sought to incorporate simple designs with local materials and achieved fame with his approach to sustainable architecture as well as in organic architecture. He has been called the "Gandhi of architecture".

He moved to India in 1945 in part as an architect associated with a leprosy mission and continued to live and work in India for over 50 years. He became an Indian citizen in 1989 and resided in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala from 1963 and founded COSTFORD (Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development),Throughout his practice, Baker became well known for designing and building low cost, high quality, beautiful homes, with a great portion of his work suited to or built for lower-middle to lower class clients.

 His buildings tend to emphasize prolific - at times virtuosic - masonry construction, instilling privacy and evoking history with brick jali walls, a perforated brick screen which invites a natural air flow to cool the buildings' interior, in addition to creating intricate patterns of light and shadow. Another significant Baker feature is irregular, pyramid-like structures on roofs, with one side left open and tilting into the wind. Baker's designs invariably have traditional Indian sloping roofs and terracotta Mangalore tile shingling with gables and vents allowing rising hot air to escape. Curved walls enter Baker's architectural vocabulary as a means to enclose more volume at lower material cost than straight walls, and for Laurie, "building [became] more fun with the circle." A testament to his frugality, Baker was often seen rummaging through salvage heaps looking for suitable building materials, door and window frames, sometimes hitting a stroke of luck as evidenced by the intricately carved entry to the Chitralekha Film Studio (Aakulam, Trivandrum, 1974–76): a capricious architectural element found in a junk heap.

Eugene Pandala

Eugene Pandala: Eugene Pandala studied for a Masters in Urban Design at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He had his Fellowship in Heritage Conservation at University of York and at Fort Brockhurst (English Heritage Training Centre) in the U.K. He was the founding head of the department of Architecture at the Architecture School in Quilon where he spent educating and researching on traditional building technologies of India.

Pandala while studying at Delhi School of Planning and Architecture met the legendary architect Hassan Fathy, and was inspired to build with mud. As a nature lover, and cultural heritage conservation activist, he designs buildings with natural materials such as cob or wattle and daub, preferring interesting organic forms. Pandala built his first mud house in Kollam in 1996,comprising 2,500 sq. ft. of building, bringing him to the public's attention.

Mud House

His unique Architecture style paved way to many awards, and recognition. In 2011, Lalith Kala Academy awarded him the first Laurie Baker award .(The Hindu The Sunday, Jan 30,2011). The Designer of the year Award given by Inside Outside design magazine in 2007 (Kerala artist retreat bags best eco-friendly design award Business Standard Sunday, Mar 25, 2012) was for eco friendly design. His heritage Conservation project in East Fort Trivandrum was chosen for a commendation award by Inside Outside magazine in 2004. In 1999 for one of his residential building built with mud "Bodhi", Pandala was given, a Commendation award, by J.K. Foundations, Architect of the year award.

Fort Cochin Heritage conservation project, Trivandrum East Fort Conservation projects, is often cited as good examples of Kerala heritage conservation initiatives. This was led by Eugene Pandala’s conservation team, enabling the State Government to win the PATTA award. Sustainable architecture/Green buildings is a field where Pandala has excelled. His Tsunami rehabilitation projects, and buildings for hospitality industries receives wide acclaim due to its interwoven complicity with nature.

Kerala's elite builders like NeST Infratech, encompass low cost ideas which makes the design more exquisite , following the path of these legends of architecture.

Why passive houses are a strong choice.

It's the era of smart homes; homes that are efficient enough to eliminate the troubles of mechanical heating and cooling of a building through smart, time-tested heating and cooling features.

You all must have juggled the improved ideas of contemporary, modern, country-style and traditional style while building your new home. But every one of these styles, as productive as they sound, does not really stand up to the energy efficiency standards. That’s where passive homes come in; as energy saviors that eliminate the need for auxiliary heating and cooling. 

In harmony with the climate

When it gets really hot during hard summer days, it’s hard to cut the growing heat in your interiors. Passive home designs take advantage of the climate to make sure the occupants endure a thermally comfortable temperature in the interior. Understanding the principles of thermal comfort, these homes put you in a comfortable temperature range at all times.

A passive home design

Reduce Carbon emissions

Whether or not global warming is a matter of concern to you, every house plays its part in the alarming rise of carbon emissions around the globe. It is not just factories and vehicles that billow smoke but also our own homes. Ever since the passive homes have come into existence, the energy conservation standards promised are indeed overwhelming. Especially when it claims to slash carbon emissions by 80%, we know there’s push for a better future. 

Save Money

Passive houses make more economic sense than the modern day homes and it is more bang for your money when you decide on building a passive house. Though not cost-efficient during the initial outlay, in the long run passive homes turn more than significant as it lets you cut the cost of energy bills by 90%.

Minimize air leakage, breathe improved air 

It’s not something you want when you have conditioned air in the house let out uncontrollably through cracks and openings. Passive homes minimize air leakage with an effective ventilation system. The sophisticated ventilation system in a passive home efficiently controls the humidity. The air that enters the home is filtered and warmed, and old air is exhausted out.

Intelligent shading and window orientation

Passive homes avoid heat gain through intelligent shading and window orientation. This impressive system provides improved indoor air quality.

A passive home in Germany.

Conclusion

The seemingly more logical idea of a passive house is slowly planting its feet in Indian uptowns. The growing urge to find more sustainable choices of home design has paved way to create a sense of awareness and more passive homes are cropping up.

Today, there's a large chunk of the world's energy gobbled up by modern day homes. It is definitely time we seek sources of sustainability; it's time to get the new builds more efficient.