Vathmeekam is a residence project done in semester 4 studio, headed by Dr Soumini Raja at Avani institute of design, Calicut, Kerala, India

It all started with the fascination on 'Termite mounds'. Termites actually build skyscraper- like mounds that are ventilated by a complex system of tunnels running through them. While architects are struggling to keep a building cool by natural methods, nature have solved centuries back!!  Zimbabwean architect Mick Pearce was first among architects to use biomimicry to solve the riddle of heat in his buildings.

The site which is situated in Thamarashery, having patches of termite mounds around the place, I wondered how are they surviving there, then arises the question of 'Can the architectural features of a termite mound, improve the 
quality of living in a space?'

The process that I carried on is through a short study on ventilation, light, circulation, spatial quality and form of a termite mound and the inferences from these studies was developed to form a basic module and the spaces in the residence was designed by repeatation method of this module with regard to the context.
This is a very primitive and basic work one can do by imitating the nature. There is a never ending learning and ideas one can get from nature and all it takes is to take a pause and observe..