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Madurai architect's Climate responsive Chettiyar house lauded


Vignesh Sekar, a twenty-six-year-old architect, and his team turned heads of many including music director A.R Rahman towards Madurai for building a climate responsive Chettiyar house that reduces six-degree room temperature.

Vignesh Sekar with IAB Award
Vignesh Sekar with IA&B Award

Breaking Away from Traditional Chettinad style innovatively

Vignesh built the house for one of his clients at Thirupattur, 65 km away from Madurai; it was completed last November. The 4000 square feet house was designed so as to include all the features of a Chettiyar house but also modern architecture on the demand of the client, but we made it possible and alluring with low-cost techniques and innovative ideas says Vignesh. The features that are borrowed from a Chettiyar house include Thinnai (front yard in Chettiyar house for guests) and private bedrooms from the main courtyard. “We wanted to break the style of having the kitchen near the backyard- this was done to segregate women from the main living area, but we designed an open kitchen near the main courtyard so that the whole family can interact and have a chat while the women cook,” informs Vignesh.

Dining and living
Dining and living

Letting in natural light and temperature control

The facade of the building with descending opacity in the door- created with help of Jallis and the skylights on the first-floor ceiling allow natural ventilation and minimize use of electricity while the whole house has only four fans. The filler slab technique which uses customized Terracotta clay pots placed in the skylight roofing stems the increase of temperature as the day progresses and the sun grows harsher – there are 16 skylights in the house. Even during the monsoon, the terracotta pots absorbs the moisture and will help the resident feel warm and cozy. The yoga hall is designed so as to get illuminated by the natural light from the skylights. As the plot of the house is east-facing, Vignesh has installed a terracotta jalli (net) near the eastern entrance to let in natural light. To add to the green quotient of the building, a vertical green wall has been erected near the Puja hall and at the entrance. In addition, the trees which were cleared in construction are used in shuttering.

Skylight that are filled with customised Terracotta pots
Skylight that are filled with customised Terracotta pots

We sourced everything locally

As a cost-cutting measure, Vignesh and his team has sourced maximum raw materials from the nearby areas- within 100 kilometers. We have used customised Athangudi tiles manufactured by traditional artisans in Athangudi, 10km from Thiruppathur. These tiles are replicated by many industries outside Tamil Nadu which are much costlier but people are still unaware of the best things near us which are much cheaper says Vignesh. As much as natural stones and dyes are used. Dolomite mixed with grey cement and white cement and waterproofing agent is used as a plaster, this technique is called glass plaster technique. A lotus pond is made at the entrance was requirement of the client. Two more things that attributed to our success is every labour who are locally sourced understood our requirements, and second, cooperation of the client. If there was a mistake while we are trying something new, he never lost it and stood by us adds Vignesh.

The structural part of the building was designed by Vignesh’s father, M.Sekar.”We are elated that one of our initial projects gets a big response and we feel more responsible in upcoming projects. In the last one week, we are getting a call every ten minutes as our achievement was tweeted by A.R Rahman – we can never thank him enough,” said Vignesh who studied Architecture in Madurai Thiagarajar College of Architecture.





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