House of Cords

House of Cords is a contemporary home in Calicut, Kerala, India, where the clients’ love of music and the qualities of the site shaped every major decision. Designed by DXD Architects and started in 2018, the project translates a personal passion into built form, beginning with a linear plan that opens generous prospects for views across the surrounding land.

The site sits amidst rubber plantations, and the design responds directly to that setting. The structure reads as a contemporary volume that seems to float off the ground, a gesture that lightens its presence and lets the landscape continue beneath and around it. A trellis facade wraps the building, echoing the shifting shadows of the rubber trees while offering a subtle representation of the harp, a fitting emblem for a music-loving household.

A material language rooted in place

Inside and out, the palette is deliberately restrained. Raw concrete finishes give the home a quiet, tactile honesty, while wood furnishings warm the interiors and pockets of vegetation thread greenery through the plan. Together these elements give the structure a distinct character that feels grounded in its tropical context rather than imported onto it.

Designing a private house of this kind asks an architect to balance comfort, climate, and identity at once. In a region like Kerala, where heavy monsoon rain and strong sun are constants, a screening layer such as a trellis does practical work: it filters daylight, encourages cross ventilation, and shades the interior without sealing it off from the outdoors. The raised, floating form also helps the house breathe and keeps living spaces lifted above damp ground.

The use of exposed concrete connects the home to a broader interest in raw concrete construction, valued for its texture and permanence, while the linear arrangement keeps rooms in close dialogue with the views. As a piece of contemporary residential architecture, House of Cords shows how a clear concept, drawn here from music and landscape alike, can give a single-family home both a strong identity and an easy relationship with its surroundings. The result is a residence that carries a melody of its own.