Architecture-Queries and replies

PICTURE OF HOUSE IN OUR WEBSITE

 
I am Krishna Mohan working as Marine Engineer. I liked the banner picture of a house in the page 'Features of Kerala Architecture' in the Kerala architecture site. i would like to know some details of that house including

1.Total sq.feet

2.No.of bedrooms and bathrooms

3.estimated budget

and also  what all the other facilities does the house has?
I am attaching the image of the respective house for your reference..
Looking forward for your earliest reply.
Krishna Mohan

My reply.

There is no point in simply liking a picture of a house in a website and thinking of having an exact looking house for you.Your plot dimensions,directions,position of roads will be different.Your needs for the house will be different.Your budget for the house will be different and no architect would like to simply copy his work again and again

Me or any other architect can give you an appropriate design for your house which meets your requirement,budget,location,site conditions and the house thus designed may look even better than the picture of house which fascinated you.

GRANITE LAYING

I am Biju from Mavelikara, my house construction is going on , I have little doubt about granites.Granite named “Shimoga  Red” it’s surface is glass clear and black shades on red , edges of slabs are white,  could I get the same surface color when shaping the edges , if not what is the remedy  please advice

Biju

My reply

Basically granite will have a monolithic nature .So I am not sure whether this particular type of granite alone will be white on edges.Granite is now a costly flooring material and slippery nature of it do not augur well for safe and healthy living in the house.

Now you can get beautiful non slippery tiles from NITCO and Johnson which can be used to give lesser costly more comfortable flooring with good designs.Your Architect can suggest you better laying pattern

ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY HOUSE

Dear Mr. Thomas,

I got a chance to read your blogs and thought I should ask your opinions in construction of an environmentally friendly home in Kerala.

This will be on a 30 cent plot with tar road frontage on one side, on the side of NH 220, Kottayam. I am looking for a 2 story Villa with modern amenities with 4 or 5 bedrooms and long verandahs on ground floor, a courtyard in the middle and architecturally styled railing for first floor balconies. Could be approx 2000-2500 sft.

While I am not interested in a standard concrete block, I want my home to be beautifully designed and aesthetically appealing with a touch of traditional 'Illam's and 'Mana's. Importantly, this should be designed according to Vasthu recommendations. More happy, if it has natural ventilation elements and natural cooling elements.

lease can you let me know if these are possible in Kerala.? Also, what could be the cost of such a building based on your experience.?

Anoop Vijay

Senior Sustainability Engineer
Dubai, UAE

My reply

Every Architect would love to design something different,environment friendly and I personally prefer to have all traditional good features of Kerala architecture adapted with modern technology.

We can design your house suited to your environment,your needs and wishes for the house.Cost is something which can be calculated only after we have the design ready and definitely not before the design.Without design of the house how any one can simply predict cost?Building construction involves lot of material with ever increasing price tags and labour in Kerala is fast becoming rare to get and costly.

DIMENSIONS THAT CANNOT BE CHANGED

I am S P Manoharan who is working in Indonesia. I want to construct a house in my native place Alleppey. I got the house plan made by my engineer and it is attached herewith. With the normal stair case I can not have attached bath room in the first floor master bed room. The dimensions of room can not be changed as they are all agreed by my Vasthu Namboothiri.

The bottom bath room dimension can be altered. Can you please send me an offer with a wooden (Teak) spiral case so that my dining room area is not much affected. Please send me the drawing incorporated with the staircase to first floor.

S P Manoharan

My reply

Originally  specific perimeter for each room and house was insisted upon by earlier craftsmen of house(Asaris) using Kol,Angulam,Viral which was the measurement system of those days simply to ensure that wooden rafters made as per the relevant calculations in that system of measurement can be used for roof for the house.

Now nobody is having roof of house with wooden rafters and house roof is done with concrete and there is no point in having such perimeter calculations for rooms and houses now.Vasthu books do not talk about these perimeter calculations.

A stair case require specific length and height to be decided as per Engineering calculations.Nobody can simply put a stair case in a room where sufficient space and dimensions are available.Hence it is better to re design plan of the house by a qualified experienced Architect