Under the roof, a Madras mood

Through With Love, Madras, architects Ashna Lulla and Vignesh Sivakumar invite you to revel in the city’s abodes
Under the roof, a Madras mood
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4 min read

CHENNAI: Somewhere in Injambakkam is a verdant plot that Ranjeet and Maria “Mich” Jacob call home. Caged in creeper-bound walls and lush foliage, a mango-stone roofed house built with urban materials sits at its heart. It’s a different microcosm, even a couple of degrees cooler as you enter. You will see a natural pond and perhaps, a labrador drinking from it when it’s not chasing birds that visit the garden. And in a landscape so pristine and natural, the flickering glow of fireflies is not the uncommon appearance it would be in the city beyond.

Architects Ashna Lulla and Vignesh Sivakumar paint me a decadent picture of this home, one of 20 that features under ‘Fireflies in the Mango Orchard’ in their book With Love, Madras. “Ranjeet grew up in a mansion in Kolkata and Mich in Kerala and both are Malayalees; their home reflects it with that kind of architecture. Ranjeet grew up in a house with a lot of antiques and developed an eye for it. What Mich brought was her green thumb which, I think, passed on genetically because she grew up around plantations. Though it was built by an architect from Kozhikode, their involvement from the get-go was insane. They have layered it over the decade. It is the kind of home that encapsulates the message we are trying to convey through our book,” explains Ashna.

Pandemic project
With Love, Madras began with an observation that design publications often represent houses from an architect’s perspective — a brand new construction, photoshopped and styled for the day. But it wasn’t what drew the duo’s attention at a shoot in June of 2020. “We spent the whole day with the homeowners and realised how much of them we saw in the space. The little corners of their homes, unusual objects they collected, their personal collections, rituals of how to dress the bed…We realised these details are intrinsically connected to them and how it was reflected in the space,” Ashna says. So, with their photography (Vignesh) and literary (Ashna) skills, they set out to document authentic, lived homes that weren’t “super contemporary or following design trends”. And give Chennai a seat at the design table, dispelling the misrepresentation/ lack of representation they had seen.

The first couple of homeowners were found through their personal networks and then commenced a hunt through journalists, Instagram hashtags, Google (to search for people across different industries), and recommendations. “We anticipated a lot of resistance from homeowners for mainly the pandemic, but also the idea. Madras is a conservative city and we weren’t sure if people would be willing to allow random people into their homes, invade their life, and ask personal questions. But surprisingly, everyone was warm and welcoming. Everyone was interested and invested as much as we were and their involvement is what drove us to see the project through. On our end, we took all the precautions we could with masks and gloves,” Vignesh says.

For the project, Ashna and Vignesh did a recce of 40 homes which were eventually whittled down to the final 20. They also quit their day jobs (however, continuing their individual careers) to focus on the book. They were met with many challenges of publishing and eventually, they decided to self-publish it. “We want it to be multigenerational, a gift from one generation to the next to see what Madras was like and how people lived here,” Vignesh adds. Most people featured in the book are not native Chennaiites, instead hailing from different parts of the nation — Hyderabad, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai. But they have chosen to call Chennai home and invite it indoors, while still having a strong sense of connection to their roots.

Chennai chic
Two and a half years of dedication unveiled more than homeowner experiences to the duo, who began to notice similarities that thread through city abodes. Over the course of 10 homes, they compiled a small grid of their favourite photos from each home and realised that there is a strong commonality in the aesthetic. Vignesh says, “Our second stage starts with a Madras moodboard and even though each picture is from a different home, it feels like they could be from only one or two houses. There is that much similarity in the language between the homes. Almost all homes have different forms of woodwork, they are all painted white in different areas and a lot have terracotta or natural materials used in flooring or roofing. All of these subconscious choices make a lot of sense architecturally.”

The similarities do not end at architecture and, in fact, carry forward representations of Madras culture as well, they noticed. One such example was the collection of artforms, which every house attempts to do, says Vignesh. “Since we (in Madras) are traditionally and culturally inclined to art, dance and music, it is reflected in each home. The way the art is perceived and collected is very interesting. Tanjore artform is centuries-old and rooted to Tamil Nadu; all these homes had it in some form.

Even modern forms of art in some contemporary homes wanted to convey the life and lifestyle of the city. There was a sculpture of a buffalo in one house, a very common thing we see on Madras roads, which we found exciting. All the homeowners feel very strongly for the traditions and values they hold.”

We have navigated Chennai through heritage walks, tourist spots and natural paths, but the city resides indoors as well and if you wish to explore the city through and in the comfort of a home, this book is perhaps for you.

Purchase the book at withlovemadras.com. Price: Rs 2,499.

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