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This Courtyard Home Brings Back Kerala's Culture With a Modern Twist! (House Tour)
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This Courtyard Home Brings Back Kerala’s Culture With a Modern Twist! (House Tour)



Set within a lush two-acre ancestral property in Wandoor, Kerala, Aashiyana is a home that blends vernacular wisdom with modern functionality. The home draws deeply from traditional Kerala architecture, incorporating open-to-sky courtyards, sloping roofs, and colonnaded verandahs, while responding to the needs of a contemporary family rooted in heritage.

Built using laterite, granite, and recycled Chettinad wood, the residence embraces natural materials and passive climatic strategies. Internal and external courtyards, deep overhangs, and carefully oriented openings foster seamless indoor-outdoor interaction. The spatial layout is guided by intuitive movement and moments of pause, with corridor seating, large bay windows, and corner sit-outs enhancing experiential quality. The central pond and landscaped thresholds offer sensory calm and ecological benefit.

Aashiyana reflects a return to grounded, place-based living. Through material honesty, spatial softness, and a strong relationship with nature, the home stands as a timeless interpretation of Kerala’s domestic legacy.

Learn more about this house with floor plans, sections, detail drawings, material palette, and more at:
https://www.buildofy.com/projects/aashiyana-malappuram-kerala?utm_source=YT-D_Aashiyana_malappuram_kerala&utm_medium=YT-D_Aashiyana_malappuram_kerala&utm_campaign=YT-D_Aashiyana_malappuram_kerala&utm_id=YT-D_Aashiyana_malappuram_kerala

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
01:20 – The House That Remembered
02:19 – Site
02:40 – Entrance
03:07 – Living Space
03:54 – Indoor courtyard
05:07 – Outdoor Courtyard
06:00 – First Floor
06:57 – Designing with Water in Mind
07:32 – Materials
08:19 – Conclusion

About Buildofy:
Buildofy is a media firm that broadcasts detailed architecture films and eBooks of amazing houses in India. With an annual subscription, members can get unlimited access to a wide range of projects and PDF eBooks with floor plans, materials used, construction techniques, and more.

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Architecture Journalist: Ar. Chithresh Pillay Mani
Video Editor: Mangesh Mahajan
Cinematography: Turtle Arts by Shahul Shibli

#Buildofy #Architecture #HomeTour #architecture #architecturelovers #houseinspiration #design #malappuram #kerala #traditional #courtyard #pond #mangaloretiles #chettinadcolumns #nature #recycledwood #chaarupadi #laterite #baywindow #climateresponsive

[Whoosh of wind] [Sound of footsteps] [Birds singing] [Door creaks open] [Whimsical music starts] [Ar. Nishan]: ‘Aashiyana’ is a
five-bedroom house located in a two-acre land, which is in the foothills
of Western Ghats. The design basically is
following the romance and ambience of Kerala’s
traditional architecture. At the same time, it encompasses the
modern lifestyle needs, create spaces
which are quiet, and seamless with nature. Hi, I’m Nishan, from
De Earth Architects. Please join us for an exclusive
home tour of ‘Aashiyana’ in Wandoor. To watch premium videos, and
access PDF ebooks with house plans, log on to buildofy.com. The link is in the description below. [Music continues] [AASHIYANA] [Loud splash of water] Wandoor is located at the
eastern part of Kerala. which is in the foothills
of Western Ghats. You have abundant rains here and the summers are
very dry and hot. The house is in approximately 
2 acres of land, a part of their ancestral property. An old Tharavadu house 
was situated here. We demolished and we refurbished it into
this farmhouse. This is for a family,
very close-knit family, part of a larger group. We understood that they need more gathering spaces, where everybody
can come in, and the whole family
can gather together. This is the entire plot. And, you have the
access from here. As per the requirement, they wanted a 
farm and a house. So, what we did was, we took this steeper part
for the farming purposes. And, there are two garden walls which welcomes you and orient you towards
that sit out. Once you enter the house, you have steps, and, we’ve placed a
traditional pillar. There is one more exit
towards the north. And, further walking down, you’ll  get into this main
formal living and the dining Here, you have a living room, a completely segregated space, if at all, you have people
from outside coming in. This is a formal living space. And, from the living, this connecting corridor will direct you towards that main living space. The prime heart of the
house is this courtyard, where you have all
these interactive spaces, the informal seatings,
and open kitchen. This space is the
heart of the house where everybody meets
most of the time. [Music continues] [Ar. Bilal]: As you can see,
we have given a kottil, on the right hand side
of the courtyard, which has a large seating area which can accommodate
nearly 10 to 12 people. Basically, this has a connection
with the courtyard, as well as the kitchen. And, we have given a
parents’ bedroom at the end of the corridor. In this corridor itself, in between this openings, we also have a door which gives an entry towards
the exterior courtyard. This is our exterior courtyard where we have
multiple entry spaces. This space is mainly used
for the family gatherings, as our client was
from a joint family. And, for this external courtyard, we have given visual connection from the most spaces of the house. [Music continues] [Ar. Nishan]: The vertical circulations are tucked
inside these two zones. The first floor goes here. You have the corridor which connects the
three bedrooms. This is the master bedroom. It comes towards the east. And, this is the guest bedroom. We also have a small seater, and a window, which
can open inside. As this is on a small hillock, there is a lot of water
flowing out. First thing, what we did was, to slow down the water flow. So that, everything is balanced. You are not rushing, or pushing away the
water from the site. And, we also did a
rainwater harvesting pond where it was derived from that old memory of their pond. We did that pond with the traditional 
technique itself and modern labor. We were looking for
all the local materials available nearby the site. The main thing which
you can see is that there are lot of granites used, which comes from the
local neighborhood. And, we have laterite stones which was used for
traditional pond construction. The other major thing used
was the wood, the use of wood. We got all these wooden pillars from the Chettinard area. [Fusion music starts] Even the site visits
were really interesting. His brother’s house is nearby, And, whenever we come to site, there will be a huge feast
going on in the afternoon. So, we were really interested
in coming to the site all the time, because, we’ll be getting a lot of food. Everybody was having a
wonderful memory of this place. And, this was a very
close to heart project for the clients, as well as
their larger family group. De Earth is basically what we term it as nurture,
create, and belong. And if you ask me about the spaces we did for this house, this house actually aligns
to that firm’s vision of creating lot of interesting 
gathering and interactive spaces. These spaces actually nurture the bonding between the generations. [Music fades] [Ar. Bilal]: Kerala traditional system itself, which we uses… [In malayalam]: I lost the flow. How do I get the flow of words?

24 Comments

  2. @vd1170

    Beautiful family resort cum home. But the name of the house is not sounding malayalee…

  13. @FactmobYT

    There's a ghost in the house 😂.. white dressed girl roaming freely inside the house 😂

  15. @SelinV

    Nice house, but what I love even more is the background music…just the first 8 minutes before it changes…absolutely peaceful sounds ☮️

  17. @Radicalist-Manifesto

    I've been following your channel for a long time and find it fascinating! One information that if included in your videos would be very helpful and enriching. That is a ballpark figure for cost of the build/interiors. I'm not asking for an exact budget, but an estimate that would help prospective client to understand and come to a decision on what kind of build they'd like to go for. Thank you.!!

  19. @aria.jahelanishani.aviram

    3:35 yes, you can use the boat. It serves a different purpose than a dream catcher does. It’s to sail the water tides for dreaming. Chinese use it in their cafes. You can also put this into an Indian restaurant on top of a shelf without adding obvious idol statues. It serves the purpose of attracting people from across different waters and assists the water spirit dreaming at night…

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