In the layered urban grain of Manjeri, the Timeless House reimagines a 1970s sloping roof residence through careful transformation. It’s a home that doesn’t shout for attention, but quietly repositions itself within its time and place, a sensitive reinterpretation of memory, material, and movement.

Originally built in 1972, the house was structurally sound, featuring load-bearing masonry and a later addition on the first floor. But like many homes from that period, its layout followed a rigid spatial logic: closed-off rooms, narrow passages, and spaces that functioned more as silos than sequences. It felt inward, boxed in. The approach was not to demolish and rebuild, but to peel back and reveal, to keep what worked, undo what didn’t, and invite light, air, and ease into the heart of the home.

PATH. People in Architecture Transforming Habitats

Entrance

The entrance used to lead into a cramped living space, a small dining area, and a tight kitchen with a storage room. It was functional, but deeply disconnected. We removed key internal walls, allowing the living and dining areas to merge into one continuous, breathable space. The former storage room is now the dining area, full of light and interaction. The washroom, placed where a chimney once stood, now opens up to the sky. A shaft carved to bring daylight directly from the roof into the interior. That shaft, once a neglected structural void, is now a subtle daily moment of sunlight.

Kitchen

The architects repositioned the kitchen into the old dining area, creating an easier and more intuitive flow for the elderly occupants. They also introduced a low dining counter, serving not just as a design feature but as a practical daily-use surface. Meals, medicines, or moments of pause, it serves with quiet utility. Care and empathy drive this part of the design by visual impact. Every spatial move considered the routines of the grandparents, how they moved, what they needed, and how the house could support them without getting in the way.

Site Challenges

The site had its own challenge. Sitting nearly five feet below the road level, the house felt sunken and cut off from its context. Rather than raise the entire structure or fight the slope, we used it as an opportunity. We gave the first floor a more generous vertical feel, introducing a new sloping roof that adds a sense of lightness and uplift.

Sloping Roof

This new roof, a lightweight metal gable structure, floats above an exposed concrete box. Locally sourced terracotta tiles clad the roof, blending thermal performance with regional materiality. An expressive set of angular metal pipe screens supports the structure, adding character and rhythm. These aren’t just functional; their geometry reflects the slope of the road, the tilt of the roof, and even the car porch. They visually anchor the new addition while keeping it open and airy. The contrast between the dense concrete volume below and the airy, tiled sloping roof above forms the architectural signature of the home.

First Floor

The new upper volume doesn’t try to overpower the old. It builds upon it, extending its life and adding a contemporary rhythm. The result is a house that feels layered and grounded in memory, but light on its feet.

Interior Design

The home’s architectural gestures are quiet, but deliberate. Light filters in from multiple sides. Volumes are kept simple. Openings are repositioned for cross-ventilation. Surfaces are bare but warm. A mix of concrete, local tile, and natural finishes. Interiors follow a minimalist ethos, not for trend, but for clarity. There’s a sense of space doing just what it needs to. Nothing more, nothing less.

Accessibility and Functions

But beyond design, this is a deeply personal project. It is a grandson’s gift to his grandparents. That emotional connection became the compass for every decision. Accessibility was designed into every corner. Materials were selected for durability and ease of use. Spatial choices were made to respect habits and routine, while still nudging the home gently toward the present.

External Facade

From the outside, the Timeless House doesn’t announce itself. It sits quietly in its setting, a balance of memory and modernity. The exposed concrete volume on the façade anchors it visually, while the tiled gable roof adds warmth and cultural familiarity. The interplay of solidity and lightness, of new materials and old forms, gives the house a character that feels both inevitable and entirely fresh.

A Sustainable Approach

In a town where most buildings are torn down for newer, larger structures, the Timeless House offers another narrative, one of respect. It suggests that architecture doesn’t always have to begin from zero. That sometimes, the most powerful gesture is to pause, observe, and carefully reimagine.

This project reminds us that sustainability isn’t just about green roofs or solar panels. It’s also about reuse, about reducing construction waste, preserving embodied energy and understanding that an existing building carries with it stories, labour, and time, all worth honouring.

A Timeless Piece

Ultimately, the Timeless House is not about spectacle. It’s about rhythm, about connection, about the kind of architecture that you don’t just see, but feel, in the way light moves through it, in the way air flows, in how easily one can live within it.

It is a house that quietly reclaims its relevance, not by becoming something entirely new, but by becoming more of itself.

Fact File

Designed by: PATH. People in Architecture Transforming Habitats

Project Type: Residential Architecture Design

Project Name: The Timeless House

Location: Manjeri, Kerala

Year Built: 2023

Duration of the project: 2022-2023

Project Size: 9500 Sq.ft

Principal Architect: Asadullah Ibrahim

Team Design Credits: Abdul Haseeb C K & Afneen P

Photograph Courtesy: Turtle Arts

Structure Engineers: Er. Mashood

Products / Materials / Vendors: Wallcovering / Cladding – Brick cladding / Lighting – LedLUM / Sanitaryware – Jaquar / Facade Systems – Terracotta Jaali blocks

Firm’s Instagram Link: PATH. People in Architecture Transforming Habitats

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