'AKAM PURAM AKAM ' RESIDENCE

Kerala University

Project idea

Project idea was to design a sustainable tropical house incorporating traditional planning principles in a contemporary way.

Project description

PROJECT BRIEF
FACT FILE
Project Name: : 'Akam Puram Akam' House
Location: Calicut,Kerala
Climatic zone: Hot-humid
Architect: VSP ARCHITECTS
Design team: Ar.Vipin Prabhu,Ar.Shruthi Bijunath,Ar.Praveen,
Site area : 6 cents(2612 Sq ft)
Built up area : 2300 Sq ft
Project Category: Architecture(Residence)
Initiation of project: 1-8-2016
Completion of project: 4-8-17
DESIGN BRIEF
The site of 'Akam Puram Akam' house is a 6 cents plot in a housing community at Calicut, Kerala. The brief called for a three bed room modern, low maintenance abode that had a strong relationship with the nature.
The solution was to optimize the building footprint to create spaces which unfold into the landscape, offering a unique interaction with the site in each room. The courtyard of the traditional houses of Kerala is reinterpreted to create a transparent and vibrant courtyard, which forms the focus around which the whole house evolves. The client’s desire for privacy from neighbor's is achieved through carefully sized and positioned windows, jalli works and vertical screen garden. Free flow of spaces into one another and nature is the highlight of the house and signifies the name of the project. Jallis, voids, and vertical green screen on facade creates porous spaces in the building. The design collects and reuses rain water, utilizes solar energy for electricity, reduces pollutants in the air and creates a comfortable micro climate inside the house.
As one approaches the house, one enters into an area defined by a cantilevered industrial car porch and a 'Padipura' entrance door with row wood and mild steel embedded into an exposed cement finished wall forming the outer layer. The door opens to a lush green courtyard which is open and covered with grill patterns for security while ensuring transparency. The ground floor houses a living, dining, parent’s bed room and kitchen as well as the verandah which is covered and separated from the inside by sliding glass doors which create wide open spaces with plenty of natural ventilation and more importantly, enables one of the project's main aspirations of bringing in the landscape inside the building.
A compact stair with a combination of raw wood tread and exposed cement finish riser leads to the first floor which houses a family living and two bedrooms. All the first floor rooms are connected to the nature through their own individual balconies. The master bedroom balcony acts as the key element in the design, which creates a visual connection to other spaces and also defines the ceiling plane of the ground floor verandah. The choice of ferrocement jalli screen at the west side in the balcony of the master bedroom and wooden louver window in the other bedroom are solutions to achieve natural filtered lighting and ventilation, producing a very interesting play of light and shadow. An industrial hanging staircase with wooden treads from the first floor leads to the flat open terrace. There is a continuous movement of air through the spaces which helps bring down the heat and maintains thermal comfort. The open terrace is used as utility area, terrace garden and is also meant for the future expansion of the house.
The colour and material palette were deliberately limited to remain true to the architecture. The material palette is simple - a refined mix of white walls, exposed cement finish walls, exposed concrete ceiling and green leather finish Kota flooring. In addition to the design, the materials give the house its true architectural essence. Flooring plays an important role in the overall appeal and mood of the space. All transition spaces are defined with various flooring, from the car porch with cobble stone to the courtyard pathway with flamed granite to the interiors with green leather finish Kota and the stair with raw wood.

Technical information

Technical information is attached along with photos