Kerala Architecture

Kerala is a state of India in the southern tip with Arabian Sea kissing its sands on the western long side. On the eastern side, hilly plantations and greenery rich with spice plantations like cardamom, coffee, tea, pepper. From the east to west from hilly green forests to seashore, several rivers flow to join lakes and finally flowing down to join with the sea.
A real delight for the eyes and psyche of any tourist, Kerala is the most beautiful state of India and even one of the most beautiful places in Earth

Kerala also has got a rich history of art, culture and naturally architecture of its own. People from all over the world used to come to Kerala mainly for spices produced by eastern hilly regions of Kerala.They brought along alien culture, languages, religions and architecture.Kerala Architecture of today is influenced by the alien culture and architecture brought by people and cultural influences brought by them to Kerala from outside the state and outside India .But original Kerala Architecture has its own unique features

1. Selection of place for construction of House

Place where the house has to be built is first selected. In a larger plot, Plot has to be divided into four equal parts and the North eastern part of the divided parts is taken for construction of the house
House is preferably built facing East and other options are considered only if there is no road or access to the plot from the east. Other options of front of the house are North, West and South in that order

2. Location of well

Well was very important for the house as the only source of drinking water, water for agriculture and water for bath, cleaning etc, .Well has to be in the North East corner of the house. If a line is drawn between North East corner of the house to North East corner of the plot, the line should not touch the Well or cut it

3. Padippura

It is a structure containing a door forming part of Compound wall for the house with a tiled roof on top. It is the formal entry to the compound with the house. At present the door is not there as car will have to enter the house through the entry. Still tiled roof is provided preferably with a traditional type lamp below the roof. Instead of door of entry, we now have the Gate