Fort Cochin, India: 2004

Program: A resort hotel facility on the fist floor of a 17th century Dutch villa of the VOC.

Architects: Soumitro Ghosh + Nisha Mathew Ghosh, Bangalore, India with Goetz Hagmuller, Kathmandu, Nepal
Team: George

ABSTRACT

The Stuber Hall in 1740 AD was the residence of the Viceroy of the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC)* in Fort Cochin. At the important location near the historical area – next to the sea – it now offers three exclusive suites that are housed in the heritage building - Stuber Hall, designed with the sensibility of the ‘contemporary design insert’ into the old shell of the building.

Each of the three rooms unfolds within interior open to sky courtyards / verandah and semi-covered toilet / baths. The envelope of the rooms, their individual courtyards capture the view of surrounding green foliage and neighboring tiled roofs The entire setting is very spare to enhance the feeling of lightness and space in the often-dark rainy days in Kerala. The ‘insert’ has a clear identity in the manner in which it plugs into the old structure and avoids replicating the older building structure or its characteristics, this is a deliberate decision. The clear separation of the old and the new is highlighted by the re-positioning the older objects / furniture in the contemporary setting – yet in a larger picture of a heritage zone. The effort is to bring forth an ‘authentic’ contemporary Indian design work that reflects upon the present time, the location & context and the sense of space / light in an ‘equally authentic’ yet older structure encapsulating it.

In essence the traditional Kerala home with its courtyard which brings the rain into the home to its central became a starting point – each room is a covered and enclosed space (air conditioned optionally) with its attic low seating, a semi-covered sit out and an outdoor bathing – ablution space that is really open to the natural green around. The presence of local artifacts adds to this being identifiable as a place that is in the particular setting of Kerala.