On a still, sun-washed afternoon in Tamil Nadu's Chettinad region, light plays across Belgian stained glass, turmeric-and-sea-green Athangudi tiles (traditional handmade floor tiles) and pillared verandas of Burmese teak. Down narrow lanes of century-old mansions, dust swirls around crumbling facades, as if keeping the houses breathing one more day. It is here, among decaying courtyards, abandoned wedding halls and silent streets that a team from Bengaluru's Christ University is steadily building one of India's most ambitious digital heritage repositories.
They are racing against time, armed with 360° cameras, microphones, scanners and sketchbooks. Their aim is not to restore these grand homes but to preserve the knowledge locked inside them before it disappears forever. Over two years, they have recorded 1,042 heritage houses, collected 600 survey responses, conducted spatial and thermal studies, mapped water systems and digitally captured 360-degree walkthroughs. Every visit helps them understand a culture whose architectural brilliance is at serious risk of fading. The project, funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and running from April 2024 to March 2026, brings together architecture, computer science and media studies in a rare multidisciplinary effort.
The common perception of Chettinad often begins and ends with its sprawling, ornate mansions. Dr Balakrishnan, project co-ordinator and associate professor in the department of computer science at Christ University says, "The architecture here is truly unique," he adds. "These buildings were designed with eco-friendly features and sustainable practices long before such terms even existed. A century ago, they already understood how to build in harmony with the environment." High roofs, clever cross-ventilation systems and the use of local, sustainable materials, from lime mortar to egg whites, allowed these structures to stay cool and comfortable long before air conditioners existed. These choices reveal how deeply the builders understood their climate and how thoughtfully they responded to it.
