There is a lost art our people have quietly abandoned. Landscaping. Every new building going up across our cities aims for stone paving, concrete driveways, and bare compound walls. The trees get cut. The grass gets replaced with tiles. And we call it modern. Look at what a well landscaped tropical home does. The building and the land become one thing. The shade from the trees cools the house before the sun even touches the walls. The garden does work that no air conditioner can replicate. And the space feels like somewhere worth coming home to. We live in one of the most fertile regions on earth. Our soil grows things that people in colder climates pay fortunes to import as houseplants. And we are paving over it. Grow your grass. Plant your trees. Let your compound breathe. These are inspiration images.

I think most of us want this. A home in the hills, surrounded by trees, quiet enough to hear yourself think. Not a mansion. Just something honest and well built, by the time life starts to make sense in your thirties. This is Ekam. A house that had been abandoned in the hills of Amboori, Trivandrum, Kerala. ARK Architecture Studio did not tear it down. They walked in and asked what it could still become. A verandah that opens into the forest. Terracotta roof tiles. Exposed timber rafters. Cane chairs. Patterned floor tiles. A river nearby and mountains behind it. 1,080 square feet that feels like enough. The materials are not expensive. The land did most of the work. What made this possible was simply the decision to work with what was already there instead of starting over. We have land like this in Africa. We have the materials. We keep starting over when we should be building on what we already have. More photos in the comments. ARK Architecture Studio | Ekam | Amboori, Trivandrum, Kerala, India | 1,080 sq ft | 2023 📷 Nathan Photos