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As an earthy, sustainable triangular entity, the Nisarga Art Hub stands with pride as a traditional residence with contemporary twists in the middle of the lush green paddy fields of Angamaly. Nisarga (“निसर्ग”) means nature; the building was rightly named Nisarga reflecting its connection to nature in every aspect from materials, and color to the overall ambiance.
This 2,557 square foot art hub was born out of the coalition of artistic and open minds of both the clients; musicians Mr. Vishnudev K.S. and his wife Mrs. Lakshmi Vishnudev and architects; Vinu Daniel and Oshin Mariam Varughese of the Wallmakers and took nearly two and a half years for its completion.
Since its operation, social media has been flooded with information and updates on the architecture and working of this innovative residence and art hub with a special focus on its roof. Nisarga Art Hub Angamaly is known for its unique architecture, blending nature and creativity into its designs.
The Story of Nisarga Art Hub’s Inception
Nisarga Art Hub Owners_Gowri Nair
This humble place in the lovely setting of Angamaly town of Ernakulam, Kerala resulted from a musician family’s longing to live differently, in a cozy, close-to-heart setting building a musical community. Mr. Vishnudev K.S. and his wife Mrs. Lakshmi Vishnudev decided to move to their ancestral town Angamaly during the pandemic in the hopes of building a new shelter, more than just a residence near their ancestral property to thrive as a cultural community.
They approached Wallmakers with a request to design both a residence and a community hub fostering art and cultural events such that it is earthy and close to nature and resonates with the musicians in them. Since then, they have played a significant role in the development of Nisarga Art Hub as clients and contributed to the rethinking of residences challenging the conventional design of homes.
Inspiration and Conceptual Approach
It was on a rare occasion that clients approached Wallmakers with a proposal to design private family residence incorporating a community hub and Mr. Vishnudev and his family put forth such a rare request in front of Wallmakers. Overjoyed by the challenge, Wallmakers worked with a core concept to ensure the privacy of the residence yet leave the visual continuity of the private spaces and public spaces unhindered from the beginning of the project.
Moreover, inspired by the site, paddy fields surrounded by traditional Keralite homes, Architect Vinu Daniel decided to incorporate traditional Kerala roofs into the project but with a modern twist that suits contemporary needs. Discover the artistic beauty at Nisarga Art Hub, where local artists showcase their talents through various art exhibitions
Walking Through the Spaces in the Nisarga Art Hub
Nisarga Art Hub Interiors_Syam Sreesylam
The project takes a triangular form, boasts a remarkable number of sharp angles, and is two stories high. The interiors of the Nisarga Art Hub are fairly open and undisturbed with mainly wooden flooring. The Art Hub houses an entry, a living area, a dining space, a kitchen, a work area, bedrooms, toilets, and a recording studio.
The ground floor consists of a private entry detached from the open amphitheater or roof, a living area with depressions as pieces of furniture, a flexible dining space, a semi-open kitchen, a work area attached to the kitchen, two bedrooms, toilets, outdoor staircase to the swimming pool and a straight indoor staircase leading to the first floor.
Upon setting wooden planks on the swimming pool it turns into a stage for the amphitheater. Climbers adorn the safety grill shielding it from the effects of the direct sunlight. Flexibility is the key to the spatial design of the Art Hub. If you’re visiting Kerala, make sure to check out the Nisarga Art Hub Angamaly location map for easy navigation to the hub.
The Roof, the Charisma of the Project
Architect Vinu Daniel expressed his opinion on sloping roofs of Kerala that such roofs despite being excellent insulators pave the way to dark interiors which is not acceptable in contemporary times. With this notion, the architect decided to puncture the roof with skylights seamlessly to leave the interiors well-lit while maintaining the traditional look of the house from the exterior. The skylights also allowed the hot air to escape due to the Jute Sack rolls that were laid on the openings.
Open air amphitheatre_Syam Sreesylam
But what made the social media flood with the pictures of the Roof of Nisarga Art Hub? It is this roof’s unique ability to transform into an amphitheater. Architect Vinu Daniel envisioned the roof as a one-stop solution for multiple problems. By envisioning the roof as an amphitheater with a stage on the swimming pool, the Architect also ensured the privacy of the home underneath.
It was the appropriate angle of the slope of the roof that allowed such a setting. In this way, the seamlessly incorporated skylights were also used as seating for the open-air amphitheater that popped up on the spacious roof occasionally.
A concert at Nisarga Art Hub Open Air Amphitheatre_Syam Sreesylam
Reimagining the traditional roofs, and reinventing new purposes and definitions, the roof or open-air amphitheater of the Nisarga Art Hub is certainly the charm of the project. The Nisarga Art Hub – Ernakulam, Indien, is a cultural hub for contemporary art lovers, featuring interactive art spaces.
Wallmakers’ Signature Style and Elements
Wallmakers is known for its unique approach of working with debris to build sustainable beautiful durable structures. Nisarga Art Hub is not an exception in the journey of Architect Vinu Daniel’s mission to construct with discarded materials and construction debris. The walls in Nisarga Art Hub including the one that supports the cantilevered recording room on the first floor were built using Wallmakers’ patented Shuttered Debris Wall technique.
Apart from the walls, the tiles laid on the roof were also obtained from the buildings in the locale that were torn down. The safety grills were installed using the discarded racks reclaimed from a scrapyard while the rustic laterite blocks that form the verandah were extracted from the demolished buildings in the region.
By reusing materials and using materials available in close proximity to the site, the construction of the building left minimal carbon footprint and low environmental impact, making it sustainable and this is one of the core philosophies and working style of Wallmakers. Nisarga Art Hub’s architecture is a masterpiece, designed by leading house architects who focus on sustainable and innovative designs.
Rethinking Residential Designs: Role of Clients and Designers
Open plan living area overlooking the fields_Syam Sreesylam
Nisarga Art Hub is a peculiar case where the clients were open-minded, not only accepting the revolutionary solutions in their homes recommended by the Architect but also advocating the design of their home to be far from the usual reflecting their artistic minds. For instance, it was the client’s idea to develop their residence as a home cum art hub in the first place.
Further, they recommended an open floor plan layout and a furniture-free home as they believed in the padmasana posture of sitting that paved the way to the L-shaped depression in the living room. Without worrying over safety aspects, the clients embraced the beauty of being in a living room overlooking and seeming like an extension of the lush green field, enclosed by debris walls and reused materials.
The clients were aware of the problems that arose due to such rustic and out-of-the-box construction of their residences and dealt with them eloquently. The clients agree that they had to ‘unlearn, adapt, and evolve’ to be a part of such an innovative project, inhabit it, and address the queries of the commoners on their residence. Contemporary art spaces like Nisarga Art Hub Kerala provide a venue for visual arts, showcasing the beauty of nature and culture.
On the other hand, Architect Vinu Daniel and Wallmakers make the best out of this rare situation. They worked with an extended focus on the public-private interplay and traditional-modern dilemmas. The final result narrates Wallmakers’ approach towards the traditional architectural elements in the Nisarga Art Hub. The detailed plan of Nisarga Art Hub promotes both modern housing design architecture and environmental sustainability.
They have incorporated traditional elements wherever possible but with a Modern twist such that it suits the family’s needs and contemporary architectural standards, be it the punctured roof or the reclaimed laterite block verandah resembling the ‘muttam’ in Traditional Keralite homes. They have dissected the traditional architectural elements and repurposed them before incorporating them into the project.
Wallmakers have certainly fetched the best out of this once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity and given the architectural knowledge society several questions to ponder upon and answer. Whether you’re interested in house design by architecture or exploring art promotion platforms, Nisarga Art Hub offers a unique blend of both worlds.
A glimpse of the charm of the Nisarga Art Hub_Syam Sreesylam
This project is an example of how rethinking residential designs, unlearning the known, and reinterpreting the past can pave the way to interesting novel ways of living and shelters and highlights what role clients and designers play in bringing about such paradigm shifts. The Nisarga Art Hub location in Angamaly is perfect for art community events and creative workshops.
