Kerala sisters build climate-responsive home on ancestral land
Two sisters in Kerala pooled their savings to construct Kadangotu House on a 70-cent family plot. Designed to exploit wind patterns and high ceilings, the home stays cool without AC, relying on clay walls, clay roofs, and carefully placed openings.
Key takeaways
- Kadangotu House is built on a 70-cent ancestral plot near Kannur, Kerala, funded by the sisters from family savings.
- The design emphasizes climate-responsive strategies, including laterite walls, clay roofs, high ceilings, and cross-ventilation.
- Ventilation relies on wind direction, lower and upper openings, and the stack effect to move air through the home.
- Perforated clay jali walls in the kitchen support airflow while maintaining traditional aesthetics.
- A 21-day stay inside the house reportedly required no air conditioning, with fans providing sufficient comfort.
What Happened
Two sisters, Renu Krishnadas and Rekha Utham, invested money from their families to build a home on a 70-cent plot of their mother’s ancestral land near Kannur, Kerala. Architect Amrutha Kishor of Elemental designed Kadangotu House with climate-responsive principles, prioritising site-driven ventilation over dependence on air conditioning. The house features laterite walls, clay roofs, high ceilings, and deliberately positioned openings to facilitate cross-ventilation and natural cooling.
The design process began with an assessment of local wind sources to enable effective cross-ventilation. Air moves through lower openings from the surrounding paddy fields and rises as it heats, exiting through taller windows, creating a stack effect that enhances natural cooling without mechanical cooling.
Climate-responsive strategies extended to the use of perforated clay jali walls on the northern kitchen side, intended to channel airflow into interior spaces while maintaining a traditional Kerala aesthetic. The family’s experience with the house validated the approach: after a 21-day stay, Renu reported not needing an air conditioner, and fans remained sufficient for comfort.
Why It Matters
The Kadangotu House demonstrates how traditional materials and climate-aware design can reduce reliance on electricity for cooling in hot, humid conditions. By aligning architectural form with environmental factors, the project shows a practical model for cooling-dominant regions that could lower energy usage and improve living comfort without expensive climate control systems.
Background
The project was conceived by Renu, who has lived abroad (Dubai) and works in finance, and Rekha, who works in Bahrain. They returned to their ancestral land near Kannur to build a home that preserves the surrounding landscape and embraces natural ventilation. The design team emphasized understanding local climate before layout decisions, aiming to prevent spaces from heating up and requiring later cooling.
Key Facts
- Location: Kadangotu House on a 70-cent ancestral plot near Kannur, Kerala
- Design philosophy: climate-responsive design prioritising cross-ventilation and natural cooling
- Structural materials: laterite walls, clay roofs
- Ventilation features: high ceilings, strategically placed openings, and jali walls to channel airflow
- Ventilation mechanism: air enters from fields through lower openings, rises with warm air, and exits through tall windows (stack effect)
- In-situ test: 21-day stay without air conditioning; no AC used by residents
- Family residents: Renu Krishnadas (lives in Dubai, finance professional) and Rekha Utham (works in Bahrain)
- Architect: Amrutha Kishor, chief architect at Elemental
What Happens Next
The article does not specify any formal future actions beyond the completed project and the observed performance during the initial 21-day occupancy. No further scheduled developments are mentioned in the provided material.
Sources reviewed
Project Chintan independently synthesized and analyzed information cross-checked across the sources listed above.
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