A contemporary villa replaces an ancestral home in Kozhikode

Arif Associates accomplish the task of creating a new home in place of an old one with great sensitivity.

Curated by: Rupali Sebastian
Photographs: Akhil Kommachi; courtesy Arif Associates

The brief

Riverine Residence was to be designed and built for the youngest son of an old and well-known family in Koduvally, Kozhikode, Kerala. The house was to be built over the existing ancestral home. “Breaking down an old but regal family home, we had to create a new one that was soft and welcoming, but just as majestic as the old one,” says architect Arif Mohammed.

The challenges

There were a number of challenges in this project. The first, and the foremost, was that the ancestral home was haphazardly surrounded by the homes of the other sons, and there was no proper demarcation of roadways. The initial thought that the built-scape could be streamlined by building homes along a well-marked road had to be reconsidered as that would have made the plot exaggeratedly linear without enough width. Moreover, only one side was road-facing and the plot was also around eight metres lower than the road. So the team marked out plots for the houses so that the entire development was better organised.

The architectural form

“From every angle, we wanted this project to stand out from the other houses in the locality,” says Arif. “We wanted the new house to have all the majesty of the ancestral home. The roofs and terraces had to be well treated and be of the highest quality because people would also view the house from the top. We planned sloped roofs and uncomplicated garden terraces, keeping in mind that the plot was below road level. As the owners are firm believers of Vastu, we had to make one side fully straight.”

While the home has a beautiful river flowing behind it, the area to the rear of the house was too cluttered to be made into a backyard from where the residents could have enjoyed the vistas. Therefore, the north side — the only side shielded from public view — was used to design and build a private patio. “The house is east-facing,” reveals the architect. “Its south side has been built completely straight in accordance with Vastu. We oriented most of the free spaces towards the north, and the kitchen towards the west.”

The interior programme

In deference to the client’s wish for a home that was reminiscent of his ancestral house, the design team included a double-height hall that would be the first enclosed space people would encounter as they stepped in from the verandah. “The high ceiling and the glass walls give the hall a feeling of absolute elegance,” opines Arif. The space is demarcated, on the right, as a formal hall used for hosting and entertaining guests, and beyond it, separated by a wall, a sophisticated dining space that overlooks the elegant patio through a glass wall. The natural light that comes in through the glazed portions, helps to open up the space, and in conjunction with the high ceiling, adds to the majesty of the volume. Next to the dining hall is a prayer room that is separated from the rest of the hall with a metal partition.

The ground floor houses three bedrooms, and the first floor houses two. Each bedroom is designed tastefully to be a private space that gives a sense of comfort and warmth to the occupants. The stairs that lead to the first floor end at yet another beautiful living room. As with the rest of the areas in the house, the upstairs living room too, has big windows and an abundance of natural light.

With beautiful sloping roofs that can be seen rising through a thicket of trees and a splendid interior that speaks to the occupants, this house is most certainly a worthy successor to the family’s ancestral home.