Another building redesign project that leave footprints for future ventures to follow is:

Bungalow on the beach’, former Collector’s bungalow, it has been restored and redesigned to house a heritage hotel managed by Neemarana Hotels.The sea-side building was bought by the Neemrana group in 2002 and was in an advanced state of disrepair, where parts of the verandah had collapsed and the roof of the first-floor verandah had been dismantled.

The restoration was carried out using traditional materials and construction techniques like ‘Madras terrace method’ of floor slab construction in lime mortar, timber lean-to-roof for first-floor verandah, etc. A new timber staircase was added to approach the first-floor. The method of ‘ least intervention with the original structure’ has been followed to accommodate modern facilities like bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, kitchen and dining rooms, reception, etc

With the requirement of providing office space for the different NGOs operating from this region, the five houses were segregated into two clusters namely four interconnected houses and the fifth with a large yard as garden around.

The four houses being too small in themselves had to be redesigned and interconnected to accommodate more facilities to suite the requirements of an office, like office rooms, meeting halls, pantries, dining spaces, restrooms and toilets. Thus came the decision to connect the houses through common amenities, while following the policy of least intervention with the existing structure in conservation.

The restoration was done considering two important concepts of conservation namely use of like-for-like and policy of least intervention.

Tharangampadi , the “land of singing waves” in Tamil is a multi-ethnic seaside town along the Coromandel coast, brodering the former French colony of Karaikal .It was a part of the Chola ( 10th -13th Centuries), Pandya (14th Century) kingdoms before becoming a part of the Nayaka principality of Tanjore in the 15th Century.

Called “Trankebar” by the Danish settlers and “Tranquebar” by the British, it functioned as an important trading port for centuries ,attracting Muslim traders , German theologians missionaries, Moravian traders and the Danish East India Company.

The Danes fortified the town and occupied it for a period of 225 years before selling it to the British East India company in 1845 Spread over an area of 140 acres and inhabited by 1800 households, Tharangampadi is deignated as a Town panchayat today. The cultural medley of centuries : of languages,traditions, cultures,races and religions has lent a unique architectural character in the fortified settlement – the distinct colonial imprint on the buildings leading to the Dansborg and the tamil vernacular house forms .