PARTS OF A HOUSE

Mevin Varughese(B130027CE) & Mohammed Al Sabah (B130220CE)

Introduction

Traditional Kerala Architecture has rich tradition. The evolution of domestic

architecture of Kerala followed closely the trend of development in temple
architecture. The primitive models were huts made of bamboo frame thatched
with leaves in circular, square or rectangular plain shapes. The rectangular shape
with a hipped roof appears to have been finally evolved from functional
consideration. Structurally the roof frame was supported on the pillars on walls
erected on a plinth raised from the ground for protection against dampness and
insects in the tropical climate. Often the walls were also of timbers abundantly
available in the land. Gable windows were evolved at the two ends to provide
attic ventilation when ceiling was incorporated for the room spaces. This ensured
air circulation and thermal control for the roof. The lower ends of the rafters
projected much beyond the walls to shade the walls from the sun and driving
rain. The closed form of the Kerala houses was thus gradually evolved from
technical considerations. One can see the similarity of this form with the temple
structure. The plinth, the lower most part is still called adisthana, though it is
plain or less ornate. The sthambas or pillars and bhithis or walls are again of
simple shape with no projection or recesses. The main door faces only in one
cardinal direction and the windows are small and are made like pierced screens
of wood. The rectangular plan is usually divided into two or three activity rooms
with access from a front passage. The projecting caves cover a verandah all
round.

The classic roof decors made in Kerala architecture

Basically the domestic architecture of Kerala follows the style of detached

building. In its most developed form the typical Kerala house is a courtyard type
nalukettu. The central courtyard is an outdoor living space which may house
some object of cult worship such as a raised bed for tulssi or jasmine
(mullathara). The four halls enclosing the courtyard, identical to the nalambalam
of the temple, may be divided into several rooms for different activities such as
cooking, dining, sleeping, studying, storage of grains etc. Depending on the size
and importance of the household the building may have one or two upper
storeys (malika) or further enclosed courtyard by repetition of the nalukettu to
form ettukettu (eight halled building) or a cluster of such courtyards.

Kerala Architecture has different and unique parts

Well

Well was very important for the house as the only source of drinking water, water
for agriculture and water for bath, cleaning etc, .Well has to be in the North East
corner of the house. If a line is drawn between North East corner of the house to
North East corner of the plot, the line should not touch the Well or cut it

Padippura

It is a structure containing a door forming part of Compound wall for the house
with a tiled roof on top. It is the formal entry to the compound with the house. At
present the door is not there as car will have to enter the house through the
entry. Still tiled roof is provided preferably with a traditional type lamp below the
roof. Instead of door of entry, we now have the Gate

Poomukham

It is where you enter the house climbing up steps in the front. Traditionally it has
a slope tiled roof with pillars supporting roof. Sides are open. In the earlier days,
the Head of the family called Karanavar used to sit here in a reclining chair with
thuppal kolambi (Spittoon) by the side of chair. This chair will have long rails on
either side where the Karanavar will keep his legs raised for comfortable rest

Chuttu verandah

From the Poomukham you can walk through Chuttu verandah to either side in
front of the house through open passage called Chuttu Verandah. Chuttu
verandah will have hanging lights in equal distance hanging from its slope roof

Charupady

By the side of Chuttu verandah and Poomukham, wooden benches with carved
decorative resting wooden pieces for resting the back are provided. This is called
Charupady. Traditionally the family members or visitors used to sit on these
Charupady to talk

Ambal Kulam (Pond)

At the end of Chuttu verandah there used to be a small pond built with rubble on
sides where water living plant called Thamara (lotus) or Ambal used to be
planted .Both Lotus and Ambal have very good wide and beautiful flowers
floating in the water

Living Room
After Poomukham, we enter Living room where formal seating arrangement is
provided for formal meetings with family members and guests. This is one of the
larger rooms of the house. Preferable measurements can be 20 feet by 13 feet
(600 cm by 390 cm) or whatever the Architect may find suitable for the plot

Front Foyer

From the sit out, when you enter the house, you can have an area called Front
foyer from where you can go to Formal Living room, Office room and Stair for
going to First Floor .This area will thus be used more as a passage

Nadumuttom

Traditionally Nadumuttom or central open court yard used to be there in bigger

houses of Kerala. There is an open area usually square shaped in the exact
middle of the house dividing the house in its four sides. Due to this four side
division of the house by having a Nadumuttom. Houses with one Nadumuttom
used to be called as Nalukettu house. Similarly there was Ettu kettu and
Pathinaru kettu which are quite rare with two and four Nadumuttom respectively

Nadumuttom will be normally open to sky. In the modern houses due to security
reasons this open to sky feature is being avoided. Instead a slope roof much
above other roof is provided above Nadumuttom with sides above other roof
protected with steel railings for safety reasons. Air passage is possible through
this steel railings thereby bringing fresh air to the middle of the house from
above.

Pooja Room

Pooja room should preferably be in the North East corner of the house. Idols
should be placed facing east and the person praying should face west. At
present, woodden paneling is done on Pooja room walls and there is a standard
design for Pooja room which can be given to clients interested in having
traditional Pooja room

Family Living Room

As the formal living room will be used to meet guests and for formal meetings,
this area is where family members can relax and watch TV or listen to music.
Present day houses in Kerala have this area or room as a standard feature

Bed rooms

As per Vasthu, Master Bed room should preferably come at South west corner of
the house, with head of the cot facing south. Bed rooms have got bed space
separate and a space called dress which acts as entry to toilet, thereby hiding
toilet door to bed space. Dress if made spacious enough can be used to keep a
dressing table. Toilets now have shower cubicles for bath instead of bath tubs.
For medium size houses with two storey, two bed rooms are preferred in Ground
floor

Kitchen

Traditionally Keralites used to have their Kitchen in the North East corner of the
house, close to well which is in the North east corner of the plot. Even though
position of well is at the proper place as per Vasthu, Kitchen as per Vasthu should
come preferably at South East and if not possible due to some other
considerations, it can come at North West as a second option. Due to better
awareness of Vasthu, present day houses have the position of Kitchen relocated
With modular kitchens coming, proper Kitchen is kept as a show piece Kitchen
and a work area is added for cleaning of vessels, cutting for food preparations
etc
Earlier there used to be a Store which was just a storage room. Modular kitchen
provides lot more storage space compartmentalized, and hence no need for an
unorganized storage space
Items like Arakallu, Washing machine, Grinder for grinding of granules for making
Dosa and iddlies are kept in the Work area space

Rear Foyer

This is a new addition to Kerala houses. It is normally provided in the rear with
access from the Dining room. Mostly three sides of this covered area are kept
open to have a feel of the open area. Floor level for this area is kept at ground
level of the plot. Sometimes, grass floor is used instead of formal flooring. This is
one area where family members and close friends or relatives can sit and relax,
without noticing by outsiders if they use sit out or Poomukham

Car porch

Current trend is to go for car porch which can accommodate two cars. Car porch
is generally considered as a show piece or status symbol showing to others the
type of car the house owner has. Hence in some cases it is kept in the front in
the middle, possibly with a slope roof above car porch with decorative round
pillars. To add elegance, four pillars in the front and back with long steps in the
back is also provided. Two front pillars can come on either side of the car porch
portion. Similarly for the rear side of car porch
More convenient arrangement will be to provide car porch on any one side of the
house with a side step access to the sit out so that after getting down from car
porch, one can go to the house through side steps to front verandah and from
there to the house
As per Vasthu, there are desired positions for car porch depending on to which
direction the house faces. Unlike in the west, car porch is never closed in Kerala

Aaattu Kattil

This feature was quite common in old Kerala houses. Generally the old houses
used to have a large Hall like portion, with Nadumuttom in the middle. Attu kattil
is a swinging piece of wood tied to the roof on all four sides with rope. The
person or persons sitting in the large piece of wood can swing to and fro while
sitting in the Aaattu Kattil. This feature is added to modern houses with more
decorative work for the sitting piece of wood and ropes holding it to the roof

Chitra thoonukal

Pillars in wood or rubble with carvings or decorative works used to add elegance
to the Hall portion of the old Kerala houses. Even though adding wood pillars is
quite costly, this feature is being added to modern houses also. Pictures are
carved into such pillars of Rubble In the case of wood pillars generally it is plain
round pillars with polished surface

Clay tile laying on roof and floor

Traditionally clay tiles were used for floor of the Kerala House and Kerala houses
or rather Kerala style of roof is supposed to be slope roofs with clay tiles laid over
wooden reepers and wooden koodu with wooden thulam,kazhukkol etc properly
installed by old asaris with precision
As wood became costlier and when concrete roof became popular, Kerala
Architects tried to give similar old Koodu appearance with slope roof concrete as
roof which will later have clay tiles laid over it complete with old Mukhappu and
Thoomanam. Mukhappu comes at the top of the sloping portions of the slope
roof and sometimes in the middle of one side of slope roof. This appearance is
also achieved by using steel fabricated koodu structure with tiles laid over steel
reepers
Thoomanam used to be made by wood at the bottom end where clay tile reaches
at the bottom. Rain water falling on the slope roof will flow down fast due to the
slope and when water reaches the bottom of the slope roof, Thoomanam will act
as a diverter to direct water directly towards ground instead of it flowing inside to
wall of the house
In the earlier days plain or carved with picture design wooden Thoomanam used
to be fitted by traditional Kerala asaris, usually painted dark blue. As wood is now
costly, precast concrete Thoomanam with attractive designs are now being used
in place of wooden Thoomanam
Now clay tiles of smaller dimensions and of different shapes are available. I can
give website details of one of the clay tile manufacturers in
Trichur.www.kapindiatiles.com
Even on floor we can use these clay tiles which are healthier to use as they do
not have negative energy unlike other normally used flooring materials. Here
again different models and designs are available of course with better strength
and practically wear and tear resistant. If you give an antifungal exterior paint
over these tiles it will go without any fungus for about five years. Costly baked
with antifungal paint claytiles are also available which will last longer fungus
resistant
 Wooden flooring

Earlier we used to have wooden flooring in Kerala houses with less finish and
without modern wood polishing. Now different type of wood in small to slightly
big pieces arranged neatly to give good appearance with good polishing which
last longer is available for flooring. As wood cost is now going up, cost of wooden
flooring is also on the rise. But wooden flooring is really comfortable and healthy
also

Interior wood work with carvings

Traditionally Kerala houses had interior wood work done with wood carvings by
skilled artisans. In the earlier days house was built with wood, brick and clay
tiles. Content of wood was very high as the cost was not high.Arappura,
Pathayam, Machu (sealing between tiled roof and Room space) were all done by
wood and mostly teak wood. Verandahs and living halls were having round pillars
in wood of rosewood or teak with decorative carvings on top and bottom

Even today this wood work and carving work is used in high cost houses being
built in Kerala with all the beauty and splendor of yester years. Some of the wood
work now being used can be classified into following types

1:-Charupady for sit out and balcony (Fully covered and partially covered)
2:-Wood paneling of wall on either side of main door which can be opened as two
parts to either side with carving work and possibly with pictorial lock like
manichitrathazhu
3:-Wood paneling for round pillars inside the house
4:-Wooden flooring
5:-Wood paneling with top carving work for inside room walls
6:-Decorative cots in wood with designs similar to cots of old Kings
7:-Stair case posts with carving
8:-Cup boards and sofas with carved back rest
9:-Modular kitchen with wooden cabinets for storage and proper keeping of
kitchen utensils and tools (This is a modern day addition)
10:-Wood carved Mukhappu above tiled slope roof
11:-Wood carved Thoomanam
12:- Aattu Kattil