de earth

Everyday is a story. Every life is a story. Every relationship is a story. Every moment has a story in it. The only difference is how we see it, perceive it and narrate it. We have beauty embedded all around us. In The morning rays of the sun,the chirping of birds, the blooming of plants, the falling of leaves, the dance of the butterflies, the rhythm of wind or in the way we cook, the ingredients of our food, the innocence of a baby, the house we live, the habits of people, everything has so much to talk about. We just need to learn to see, learn to listen, learn to touch, learn to smell & learn to sense. Learn to respect & learn to appreciate. And after all, learn to narrate. “The God is in the details”. The moment we engage with all of these, they inspire us, inform us and instill passion in us to live & to create. Let’s not be sad about being confined for a long time. Look around. There’s much more in this life, which we wouldn’t have even noticed otherwise. Let’s lear...

Sight is our dominant sense. Over dependence on our eyes to appreciate the beauty & space is one of the major reason for the erosion of our sense of aesthetics. We get overwhelmed with what we see. Aesthetics begin & end with its looks. Depending on sight alone also means we remain as a distant observer. We are denying a wholesome lived experience. What remain will be a very short term memory. For immersive experiences its very important we engage with all the senses - what we see, taste, smell, touch, hear, and feel. We create more connect with the object or the space while doing this. we only talk about the elevation or the beauty of the facade without knowing architecture initiates, directs and organizes psychology, behaviour and movement. We tend to disintegrate elements of visual pleasure, and claim we have achieved all what is required.a sloping roof or a exposed laterite wall doesn’t make Kerala’s traditional architecture. Architecture become rooted to the culture, ti...

Did we ever think why our children, our colleagues, our students, more over ourselves fail to raise right questions ? Everybody run to find answers & solutions the moment they hear a question, not even critically examining it. We are brought up that way. Our educational system has moulded us that way. All it wanted to create were obedient white collar professionals. So everything come in capsules. Recently it’s all multiple choices. Don’t need to think & write too much,   forget engaging with it. We shudnt question our teachers, our elders nor the textbooks, the theories, the syllabus, the logic, the process, the university, the government nor the client requirements. We are suppose to be robots who accept the questions as it is & give quick & fast solutions. It’s the learned answer that get celebrated & not the question.There ends the possibility of original thinking & authentic creations. Never say no to a kid who love to ask questions.Let’s learn to qu...

We have grown in a soceity which kept telling us politics is for the rogue, it’s full of violence & scandals. Kids were made to believe, it’s no option to be part of politics, if they need to build a career. Either you keep away from it, concentrate on your competitive exams, or get ruined, is every single parent’s advice. The court went to an extent of banning it in schools & campuses. Not to forget that political parties added fuel to the fire, by enacting their violent role whenever they got a chance. But then that was an inevitable part of the cycle. What do you expect, when the whole idea of politics is seen as a downgraded option, in the largest democracy of the world ? How do we even live a single day without being affected or influenced by politics ? It’s high time we change our perception about politics and political parties. It’s the duty of every single responsible citizen to be the part of decision making process, not just caste vote, in the worlds largest democr...

I have often wondered what has happened to our sense of aesthetics. Collective sense of aesthetics is direct reflection of a matured soceity. We had it deep rooted in our culture. Poems of great poets, short stories, novels, movies, drama, music, art, festivals, our dress, craft, everything reflected our land, it’s natural & cultural setting. They were strong tools for social & cultural reforms. Our streets, Tea shops, Barber shops, schools, libraries, clubs, public gatherings where fertile fields for discussions, debates & criticisms. Aesthetics was never restricted to rich. It was an inherent part of life of every common man. architecture was just a reflection of these collective sense of aesthetics, highly contextual and unique, be it a single room house or a palace. For last few decades, we have lost it. Our aspirations changed. As a soceity we are confused & caught between the West & Middle East. Aesthetics is referred to as a luxury, helping the rich flaunt...

Have you wondered why are we getting educated ? Is it to learn everything about this world ? Is it just to get a job and make our living ? Is it to serve the rich ? Is it to make ourselves richer by building more assets ? Or is it to unveil the real potential in you? is it to make us better human being? It’s the time to re-think our educational system. What is the use of education if it does not nurture better civic sense & collective conscious? What is the use of education if it totally destruct the inherent capabilities & make you a robot? What is the use of education if it nurture competitions & ego beyond humanity? What is the use of education if we can’t respect nature as a whole? This quarantine & Covid -19, is an opportunity to start re-thinking from our basics. And we should start from our primary schools. Let’s avoid competitive exams at lower classes and nurture true knowledge. Kids need to experience this world and appreciate the value of relationships ...

We all say only inspired minds can come up with creative & positive solutions. And we keep looking for inspiration. From nature around us. In the news we read. In the movies we see .in the stories we hear, some music we listen, in a personality we meet or the teacher who taught us. Sometimes even in a kid who play around so innocently. And when we get low, we often find excuses that there’s nothing to inspire around. We forget to look at ourselves. Every human being is a bundle of knowledge, capability & opportunity. And you will find the biggest inspiration if you look deep into yourself. There’s no better inspiration than u, ur body, ur mind, ur heart & ur soul. The more you master it, more elevated & inspired you become. And you won’t get a better time than quarantine :) Vivek :)

To be minimal is no more a choice. We are now forced to give away a lot of things which we once thought was inevitable. We had excuses for everything. Being minimal is not just about discarding everything. It’s also about getting ready to receive more. You undo a lot of your ego, your beliefs, your routines, your needs, and suddenly u realise you can still be happy. And on one morning, your eyes are sharper, ears are more keen, and all your senses are at its best. You learn to see and experience this world at its best. You tend to hear your loved ones and the nature around us more. And that’s when the real knowledge will bestow upon you. Get ready to receive more. Learn to see. Learn to listen. Learn to smell. Learn to touch. The world will start inspiring you Vivek :)

Being a responsible living being existing by consuming most of earths resources, we have to look beyond our house, its spatial domains, social impacts to make sure we nurture a quality environment in the immediate context. Designing the site, its surroundings, landscape, levels, compound edges, are equally important or rather more important to the idea of the house itself. These external elements connect the house to the context, nature and the ecology. By providing certain trees, plants and other natural elements like water bodies, we are also contributing to the ecological domain outside our own site. We are also providing space for butterflies to fly around, bees to feed on flower beds, squirrels to hop on trees and birds to construct their nests. This idea of co existence of all living beings is crucial in the idea of “living with earth” and we should not see humans in isolation. Its our duty to nurture the ground water, to ensure that we don’t contaminate the surroundings w...

When india opened up her market to global products, mid 1990s, we also joined the rat race of a tyipical consumeristic society. For global brands which was yearning for a long term positive market, india was a huge boon, which resulted in severe competitions in all facets of products, whether big or small. At the same time, with the opening of educational streams to self financing institutions and private bodies, more and more sectors of society got access to higher education, which is western knowledge driven and hence not looking at developing their indigenous strengths. This also created a large set of white collared applicants with very demanding financial benefits, who could be lured into the consumer product race. Every body aspired to become unique and special, which gave them that sudden lift in their emotional concious. This idea of being unique and special, backed up with consistent financial inflows, had its own influence in residential architecture too. While pre-globa...

Man being a very social animal who like to settle down with his families and further in a settlement, a “house” is more than just a shelter. Its   where he develops his individual and collective consciousness. From being nomads to globalized cultured citizens we are now, humans have come a long way. Our aspirations are no more to live in a den or to survive heat and rain. We aim to establish our values and principles, through the way we live and exist. Houses are seen as a major tool to exhibit and experience ones ideologies in life and hence is more than just an object or a survival tool. Each space can influence in nurturing our daily life, habits and behavior. Principals of spatial planning talks about how orientation of spaces can help to gather more positive energy, though sun light and cosmic energy flow In cases where spaces are more than just shelters for utility, these energy domains can be highly influential in inspiring human minds. You cannot define such spaces a...

There is a famous saying by sir winston churchill, “ we shape buildings, there after buildings shape us”. This we have felt is quite true, as its always a mutual process on what we are and what space we occupy. This idea of house becoming a strong identity of pretension, is more in a consumer state like kerala, where in an agricultural society like tamil nadu or in predominant industrial societies, there are less importance given for the image of a house. For such societies houses are a little more than a shelter while the co existing environment is more important than the image. We can also come across different communities who value the idea of co existence, and hence continue living together in-heriting the houses from their past generation. In a pragmatic society, where there more primary economic opportunities, there are less importance given to the image or the idea of identity. The idea of an image of the house will be secondary to ones thoughts on his familes education, ...

Human beings are social animals. We cannot exist in isolation, so our house. Each of our life is so dependent on the context, the immediate neighborhood, ecology and society. Its hard to alienate a house from its neighborhood and vice versa. While physical boundaries give a certain level of clarity on ownership, there are several natural and social factors which are beyond these physical boundaries. Huge compound walls and gates, isolate a particular land from the rest of neighborhood and this can result in alienation of people and loss of quality relationships. We cannot deny our neighbors right for path, right for view, right for air, right for wind and right for light. Its very important each of our design reflect positively on all boundaries, rather than looking at the street edge alone. Character of a house, its visual significance, size and the way the mass responds to the streets, etc will largely influence the comfortability factor of using the street and hence the behav...

This is an interesting argument whether to look at a house beyond ones generation. In our earlier years, when the there were less globalisation and life was more or less dependent on local economy, the concept of joint families assisted mutual existence and support. There were huge houses, which existed for multiple generations, which became the symbols of power and strength. In early 20 th century, with rapid urbanisation and widespread introduction of english education, more and more opportunities were available for youth prompting them to shift from their local towns leaving their parents and grand parents in these large houses. Joint families started to disintegrate to nuclear families, all travelling around the globe in search of education and job. The temporal nature of jobs are always a challenge to majority of the working class. In such a fast globalising and tehnologically advancing society, where the opportunities are limitless, any permanent asset will be a challenge a...

Aesthetics is an inevitable part of any good creation. When you look around, you will find the integrities of each and every creation, aesthetically crafted by nature. So aesthetics cannot be neglected in a decision making process of any good design. For a well informed designer, aesthetics is more or less a very intuitive solution. Its always a difficult question on what is a good aesthetic solution of a house. There are several factors which contribute to a good residential design like the response to clients requirements, lifestyle and culture with respect to the site   and its context. When you sensitively look at these factors the process of design itself will guide you to unique solutions often inspired and informed by a certain set of variables. Aesthetics thus formed is a natural derivative of such a process. What makes each solution different is the difference in the set of variables, both internal and external. External variable in a design process are the political ...

Aesthetics in any good design cannot be a forced inclusion. For a residence particularly, overall aesthetics, is a derivate of a sensitive process. There may be other projects, like pavilions, commercial facades etc, where aesthetics may be more important, but in residences, it cannot be a separate entity. Its widely mis-understood that aesthetics of a good building is all about its form. What is celebrated is the word “ front elevation”, where what it looks from a 90 degree perpendicular vision angle from its facade, is seen as the only important aesthetical need of a building. This involves more graphics and cosmetics, while true aesthetics are achieved through articulations of spaces and forms. Fundamental aim of any good architecture is to be functional. Being functional and comfortable also mean to create “positive “ spaces which respond well to the use its meant for. Scale, proportion, spatial volumes, texture, colour, use of light, ventilation, usability, comfortability, ...

“symbolism” as an idea need to be introspected with our own experiences. Each house need to reflect upon the owner, his family, their culture, the site, the climate and its context. This can only happen as the result of a very inclusive process of design, well informed with local technology and craftsmanship. When you truly reflect the family and culture, a certain degree of symbolism may be a natural outcome. Solutions   will largely reflect their habits or their comfortability to a certain visual element, which they have carried through their life and generations. These elements will connect the owner and their family to their memories, and this collective consciousness unknowingly keep them together and start inspiring the next generations. They realize their roots and start respecting the values and beliefs. While we don’t advocate explicit symbolism to represent different religions, there are elements which naturally come when you respond sensitively to the cultural belie...

I dentity   is beyond political boundaries. We do believe there is nothing like a kerala identity or indian identity. Identity is defined by climate, natural resources and culture. Whetever we perceive as kerala architecture, whether it’s the sloping roof or the central courtyard or long verandahs, are all very sensible responses to the tropical climate that we are blessed with. What determined the form and details is the natural availability of good quality wood, owing to the geographical uniqueness of our state. These images were then articulated over ages, to create symbols to represent political, social and religious ideals, which are now miss interpreted as the symbols of identity of the entire region. While the symbols do have a cultural significance, it doesn’t anyway reflect any particular political domain. India, as a country has the most diverse geographical conditions, climate and hence celebrates a wide palette of culture and ethnicity. “India” is a very recent pol...

We are blessed to have so many friends around to respond to our invite to be a part of our de 12x17 workshop, and interestingly most of them were architect couples. Ar Jayakrishnan and Ar Chithra from Trivandrum, added a lot more depth to the whole discussion, by preparing a well drafted counter argument and also by showcasing their own attempts as examples for their arguments. As per JK and Chithra, identity is a miss conceived term. There is absolutely nothing like kerala identity or indian identity. These are all certain political boundaries, while architectural identity is purely based on climate and available resources. Architecture around the world has different identities, as the responses varied with the change in climate and change in locale. Even culture is defined by climate, so the size and type of settlements Whatever we perceive as kerala architecture is purely a response to tropical climate, with the available materials and resources at a point of time. So essen...

Ar Vinod Cyriac and Ar Anita Choudhuri brought in in a totally different social and sensitive perspective to the discussion. The architect couple, famous for their various social initiatives, public projects and the award winning designs for good earth community housing, believes architects should take the role of a facilitator rather than dictating each and every element of a project. Architecture design is an inclusive process, involving the architects design philosophy, clients aspirations, context and culture. When everything is done up with extreme finesse, they believe, finally only the client becomes the mis-fit in the house when they start living in. To avoid this alienation from ones own space, the process of design and constructing a house, should be a collective exercise between the architect and the client, right from formulating the brief to the selection of materials to finalizing the design elements. Architects should be able to condition the client to receive a...

Lijo and Reni brought some very interesting and totally radical thought process into the discussions. The word “identity” was examined with much deeper sense of understanding. Identity is not all about being visual. In a much broader sense it talks about the whole context. Lijo was constantly referring to the book “sapiens” to support his ideology of being an universal living being, appreciating the fact that the entire human race is indeed very young considering the age of the earth. So the idea of permanence and temporal and the idea of identity become so baseless, if we consider our race itself having one single identity of a very recent origin. All we are talking about is “genetically” transferred identity which humans needed for essential survival. We are all living in an “imagined reality” where the idea of society and rights are being pushed into our brains in the continuing quest for survival. Human beings had much more physical powers earlier. When this idea of settli...

The conversation began with some very interesting questions from Aabid evoking some critical introspections into our own design thinking •       What is a “de earth” house ? •       Is it using the sloping roof ? •       Is it about using less concrete ? •       Is it about more gardens ? •       Is it about good light and ventilation ? •       How does it feel to live in a “de earth” house ? These questions made us realise that there are several sub-concious inclusion of elements which keeps repeating in our designs, which may be unknowingly defining a set of language. One way to overcome what others feel is a “repetition” of elements is to make the process of building the brief for each design much more deeper and stronger, by knowing the client and the site more. And these two seldom gets repeated. Discussing with the client and building a good design brief has...