Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Research Director/Editor:
Samira Rathod
Principal, SRDA, Mumbai
www.srda.co
srda@srda.co
Research Team:
Nikhil Sriram Periaswamy
Rhea Shah
Sunain S Dalwani
Photoraphy:
Pankaj Anand My experiences as a developer affirm the importance of housing. Our cities
http://www.pankajanand.in are growing at an immense pace creating a large influx of people. This
www.facebook.com/pankajanandinfo creates an urgency for a housing system that is quick to construct and
can handle the large densities. In this process of standardized building,
Publisher: architecture has lost its relationship with our lives.
Samira Rathod Design Associates, Vernacular architecture directly relates with people, culture and climate and it
420/421 Unique Industrial Estate, is very important to us to integrate this essence into our work.
Veer Savarkar Marg, Prabhadevi, As a developer that works largely in Chennai and having been raised in South
Mumbai 400 025, India India it seemed natural to look back at the architecture I experienced while
growing up, and to undertake a study of our lost architectural heritage its
Printer: vivid culture and craft of South India.
Mazda Imaging Pvt Ltd, Mumbai Having been familiar with the work of SPADE and SIRCLE (Spade India
www.mazdaimaging.com/ Research Cell), we commissioned Samira Rathod Design Associates to
undertake the research in their unique style and we were not disappointed. I
July 2015 thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I hope it can bring back the same
sense of nostalgia and awe that it inspired in me.
5 c a s e s t u d i e s 131
Ka n a d u ka t h a n
Ag r a h a r a m
Ch et t in a a d h o u s e
G u t t h u h o u s e
Th a r a v a d u h o u s e
6 m om ents 173
7 p h oto es s ays 18 5
8 th e s k e tchb o o k 197
G l o s s a r y
1
Intr oduction
Our journey through South India introduced
us to a language of building that is completely
characteristic of its people, their nature of living and
the environment. The tectonics of the architecture
were inextricable from culture, narratives, life and
living.
8 introduction introduction 1
the j our ney m ap
The study was conducted in 3 states of Southern
6 India; Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
2 introduction introduction 3
t e m p l e s
evolution o f
temples
The temple typology has grown in Kerala over
5 6
centuries. The original inhabitants worshipped
nature and animals around them. Sacred groves
were the mode of worship and snake worship was
widespread.
R O AD
Courtyards : open space
Well
1. chettinad house, tamil nadu
2. tharvad house, kerala
3. gutthu house, karnataka
2 3
1
1 entrance block
2 layers of courtyards
3 private rooms
4 service area 2
linear primary circulation
entry into rooms
open to sky courtyard 1
9 8 8
4 3 3 1
2 2 2
4 2 3 2 3 2 1
service street
main street
Li g h t
&
I l l u mi n a t i o n
the spaces.
It can be inferred that courtyards and verandahs
remain the main source of light throughout the
houses of South India.