KOCHI: Ezha, an all-woman team of conservation architects from Kerala, has received an honourable mention at the International Domus Awards 2023 for their efforts in conserving the nearly 600-year-old mandapam at Kunnamangalam Bhagawati Temple near Karuvannur in Kozhikode.
This is the first project from Kerala to receive the honour. According to the jury, “The restoration of the mandapam stood out for the attention paid to the cultural, religious and processual meanings.”
On receiving the award, the Ezha team members said, “We are grateful for this recognition — our second on the international stage. This motivates us to accomplish more.”
Ezha is made up of Swathy Subramanian, Savita Rajan and Ritu Sara Thomas. Earlier, they had won the UNESCO award for cultural heritage conservation and the Indian Institute of Architects’ Golden Leaf award for the same project.
The ninth edition of the Domus Awards, instituted by the University of Ferrara in Italy, also saw Field Architects, a Gujarat-based architecture firm founded by Faiza Khan and Suril Patel, clinch the silver medal for their work in conserving the Palay houses of Old Phey in Ladakh.