AHAM – Architecture that is designed to touch the Soul. This 2800sqft house creates an environment that helps one to open up into the stillness within, thus helping the user to experience a truer beauty, function, and meaning to the space. Aham stands beautifully in the middle of lush greenery and mesmerizing natural beauty of Kerala, grabbing one's attention from very far itself with its traditional sloped roofing at different heights. The brief aims to revert to a grounded lifestyle setup through a design that captures the essence of being connected to one’s roots and values. The client’s understanding of the relevance of landscape and the design team’s conscious effort to integrate that with the activities inside built spaces pilot the project decisions.
The conceptual start was to place the central courtyard as the ‘soul’ of the house which ties the rest of the house. The Car porch and sitout area has a distinct piece of landscape inserted with an elegant backdrop of jali and terracotta tiles carefully placed. The guest living is isolated from the rest of the house with large windows, giving an expansive view to the courtyard.
The passage that runs around the courtyard gives privacy as well as filter the light and wind passing through the jali screens. The informal living, dining and kitchen spaces, all aligned in a row, in an open plan, thus these active cores of the house remain connected to each other and open itself to the courtyard all the time.
The built form is tailored to unwind into these green pockets at numerous points, reassuring the purpose of connecting to nature in a real sense. This project is choreographed to create an open, free-flowing movement within the elements of walls and floors around the alluring central courtyard. Living space and the 2 bedrooms in the first floor are designed to cultivate strong feeling of connection, achieved through strategical openings and cut-outs that act as uncompelled visual linkages between floors.
A simple yet bold aesthetic that’s easy on the eyes sets the visual and tactile treatment base. The beige hue on the exterior walls adds an elegant contrast to the beautiful greenery around. The terracotta claddings on the surfaces enhance the overall look of the charming house. Finishes are envisioned to age gracefully, adding to the aesthetic appeal over time. The interior is kept minimal with just adding the warm tone of the teak wood. Every element is customized to synchronize, creating a house that is wholly perceived as an artifact, eliminating the need for apparent décor and disconnected furniture.
Aham showcases its unique statement of traditional architecture style in the rural context of Kerala with a touch of modernity evoking the feel of newness and rawness. This type of architecture may exude a heightened soul-touching quality , reminding one of the power of both nature and architecture.
