The open-air life is very active in India, which is famous for its hot weather. Streets, squares and all open spaces are used very intensively – they are constantly filled with people. Being at home the Indians spend almost all day in the open air, preferring even sleep in the open air at night.
Therefore, the main place and the largest area in any Indian dwelling is occupied by an open courtyard called angan or uthan. It is present everywhere, even in the cold mountain areas of Kashmir. Families spend most of the time there. The sun’s rays penetrating the yard dry and disinfect everything in it, the rain washes away the dirt and fills the water vessels, and the wind vents and cools the air. A canopy of terraces, loggias, pavilions are used to stay there during the rain or hide from the scorching rays of the sun in a sultry midday time. The Indians rarely stay in a closed room, which is small compared to others. It is used to store household utensils, and it serves as protection from the weather.
Thus, a traditional Kerala Style Nalukettu House (whether it is a farm house or a palace) has a spatial triad of space: chowk (open space), tiberi (semi-open space) and kothari (closed space), decreasing the size of the occupied area. Residential complex usually consists of three major components of the inner courtyard or open area (chowk), then the terrace or loggia (baradari) and internal space (kothari).
Such a principle of the use of living space is differently refracted in the different local conditions of vast India. There is an urgent need for air circulation in coastal areas, where it is constantly hot and humid. There are a minimum number of enclosed spaces, and a house usually consists of an enfilade of communicating courtyards, differing in function, size and shape. Thus, an atrium in the role of a lobby is replaced by a peristyle (open) courtyard-living room with a pond in the center, and it is certainly followed by a spacious economic yard, where the life of women and children is mainly concentrated. All this system of courtyards, stretched from the entrance to the house along the longitudinal axis, as a rule, ends with an orchard. In this case, the building is low-rise.