Hindu House - Trivandrum, Kerala

This small, middle-class house from South Kerala, belonged to an agricultural family of Nairs, a matrilineal Hindu caste. The kitchen to this house was a separate structure next to the house. However, at the time of purchase, the family was actually cooking in the northeast corner of the house. This wooden structure is representative of houses in southern Kerala, where the building material was primarily timber. It differs from the Christian house from Kottayam only in its layout.

The manner of joinery and wood used (jackfruit wood and palmyra) is the same in both houses and was standard in southern Kerala for both the rich and the middle class. The practice of grooving planks every 3” to 4” allowed the carpenters to use varying size planks and still achieve an aesthetically appealing look of uniformity.