Ainmane: Where Architecture Narrates the Story of Kodagu's Living Heritage

Author: Punyashree P. M.
Site Location: Madikeri, Kodagu
Institute: Acharya’s NRV School of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Fathima Samana S

Description

Ainmane is a cultural heritage and experience centre in Madikeri, Kodagu, conceived as a living platform for preserving and celebrating the region’s diverse cultural heritage. Located on an 11.3-acre commercial site near Abbey Falls Road, the project responds to Kodagu’s changing landscape and the gradual loss of traditional knowledge, livelihoods and community spaces. Rather than treating heritage as a static museum exhibit, the project brings together the people, practices and products that sustain it. The programme includes a Heritage Experience Centre, Flavours of Kodagu Experience Centre, processing and recycling units, retail spaces and worker housing. More than twenty communities of Kodagu are represented through food, crafts, beliefs, stories, festivals and everyday practices, creating opportunities for participation, learning and economic empowerment. Local agro-products such as coffee and spices are connected to processing, value addition and retail, while waste such as coffee husk and coconut residue is reused through a circular production system. Inspired by the Ainmane typology and Kodagu’s vernacular character, the architecture uses sloping roofs, Mangalore tiles, lattice stone and red-oxide finishes to create a contemporary yet rooted cultural landscape.