{"id":768449,"date":"2026-02-16T15:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/768449\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T15:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:13:19","slug":"thought-parallels-architecture-creates-ananda-house-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/768449\/","title":{"rendered":"Thought Parallels Architecture creates Ananda house in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deep eaves of a large coconut-wood roof shade the bright, airy interiors of this house<\/a> in Kerala<\/a>, India, designed by local studio Thought Parallels Architecture as a contemporary response to the region’s vernacular architecture.<\/p>\n

Named Ananda after a Sanskrit word meaning bliss or ultimate happiness, the dwelling was designed for a couple based in the USA who desired a residence close to their ancestral home.<\/p>\n

Tasked by the clients with evoking Kerala’s vernacular architecture in a contemporary way, Thought Parallels Architecture<\/a> used a palette of red brickwork, mangalore clay tiles, teak wood and carved fretwork panels, united under an oversized coconut wood roof.<\/p>\n

\"AnandaThought Parallels Architecture has created the Ananda house in India<\/p>\n

“The core concept was to design the house in sync with the local architecture prevalent to the region, but with a vocabulary and syntax which speaks of our times, reinventing the old into a contemporary voice,” partners Nikhil Mohan and Shabna Nikhil told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“An unstoppably Indian, natural, local, crafty, artsy, sustainable, cerebral, minimal, contemporary response to vernacular,” they added.<\/p>\n

A paved entrance route through a front garden leads into Ananda’s defining space \u2013 a double-height living, dining and kitchen area organised around a concrete spiral staircase that draws the gaze upwards to the exposed, diagonal roof beams above.<\/p>\n

\"CoconutIt has a large roof made of coconut wood<\/p>\n

“Looking up from the stairway, you can see intricate diagonal-shaped coconut wood roofing. This design evokes a dynamic effect and adds a distinct aesthetic to the space. a modern response to the vernacular of the place,” Mohan and Nikhil said.<\/p>\n

“Coconut wood, while traditionally used in Kerala unceremoniously and without precision, lost its popularity in favour of teak. Here, it is utilised as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative,” they added.<\/p>\n

\"AnandaThe heart of the house is a double-height living, dining and kitchen area<\/p>\n

The northern wall of this double-height space is fully glazed, with sliding doors at the ground floor opening out onto a garden terrace.<\/p>\n

On the first floor level, this glazed wall frames the tree canopies from a balcony in the upper living area and an adjacent study, which also overlooks the living space through a small shuttered window.<\/p>\n

\"SpiralIt is organised around a spiral staircase<\/p>\n

Opposite this glazed wall, the home’s air conditioning units are concealed by carved wooden wall panels inspired by carvings in the 16th-century Padmanabhapuram Palace.<\/p>\n

Teak has been used to frame Ananda’s windows and doors, alongside lime-plastered walls and stone-tiled floors, matching the patio paving on the ground floor to create a sense of continuity between interior and exterior.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Zenhouse<\/p>\n

Studio Nirvana designs Zenhouse in India to invite “calm and stillness”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Two ensuite bedrooms are stacked at the southern side of the home, with the ground-floor bedroom opening onto a garden patio.<\/p>\n

These bedrooms are sheltered from the southern sun by a screen of narrow timber slats on Ananda’s facade, behind which are windows that slide open to offer natural ventilation.<\/p>\n

\"AnandaThe design pays homage to vernacular architecture<\/p>\n

On Ananda’s front elevation, the angular brick walls of the bedroom block have been finished in red brickwork, with a distinctive pattern created at the corners by leaving gaps where courses meet.<\/p>\n

At the bottom of the home’s spiral staircase is a basement level sunk into the lower, southern side of the site, which contains a garage and storage areas.<\/p>\n

Other homes in India recently featured on Dezeen include the minimalist, concrete Zenhouse in Kerala by Studio Nirvana<\/a> and the airy, open House by The Grove in Bengaluru by Taliesyn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Syam Sreesylam<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deep eaves of a large coconut-wood roof shade the bright, airy interiors of this house in Kerala,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,7931,730,164475,34358,17022,126129,126130,16,15],"class_list":["post-768449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-houses","tag-india","tag-indian-houses","tag-kerala","tag-residential-architecture-and-interiors","tag-sectionall","tag-sectionarchitecture","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116080961700238532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}