Transforming Janaky Sadan

As I had told all of you earlier (you can read the previous blog here), one of the projects we are currently working on is the renovation 'Janaky Sadan' which in fact is my ancestral home. It has personally been a very interesting process for me right from  the start of the project- creating the design brief, discussing ideas,etc. Not to mention the fact that I get to be a part of the architect's office designing my house as a client as well as an architect. 

This opportunity of working on my own project in my workplace has opened up new opportunities for interesting interactions- for me and within the office as well. Starting from helping me initiate the process of writing narratives for the projects at the office to understanding the little nitty-gritty of understanding client behavior from the client's side - it has definitely been a learning experience which probably would continue till the house is complete. 

But, the best part of this experience has not been any of this. It's the feeling of sitting on my table, with architects sitting around me discussing, sketching and working on my home. We talk about the elevation details and how the traditional Kerala architecture elements would be brought in. We talk about the context of the village it is situated in and how our lifestyle would change when staying there. We talk about the neighbors, the views, the bay windows, the staircase and the little details that would define the house. It is definitely greatly thrilling to watch sketches being made and design being worked on by multiple architects around my table. 

I try imagining the times about 60 years ago when my grand-dad must have probably sat around his table, working with his architect -  designing the house from scratch. I wonder how the decisions were taken back then - and what the constraints were. From the day 1 of the design, Sai has been talking to me about envisioning the house to be like how my grandparents would have wanted it to be - without considering the constraints that made Janaky Sadan how it is now. Now as his granddaughter as well as the architect, repeating the same process as he did back then, I wonder how different it is from the one 60 years ago. 

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After months of conversation, designing and more conversations, the process of spatial planning has almost come to an end and we have moved to the estimates, scheduling the construction, etc. I can't explain how exciting it is to take a team of architects and artisans from my office to the site for starting the work on my project.

Come back to this space for more updates on this!

- Ananya