COMPLETED PROJECT · AYURVEDIC SPA

Gangehi Resort

Timber spa compound in the Kerala tradition

Timber as the primary
building logic

This project involved the complete woodwork specification and execution for an Ayurvedic spa compound built in the Kerala Nalukettu tradition. The brief required reclaimed teak throughout — structural columns, wall cladding, ceiling joists, doors with period ironmongery, and site furniture — with all material sourced from dismantled heritage houses. The result is a compound where no two panels read the same, grain patterns accumulate across rooms, and the age of the wood is openly visible rather than concealed.

Custom Design
Premium Wood Finish
WOODWORK IN DETAIL

What was designed and built

Turned columns and the open veranda

The kitchen takes the opposite position from every other room in the house. Greige matte cabinetry, white uppers, a seamless stone worktop — nothing competes for attention. A louvered skylight runs natural light across the entire counter length without a single pendant in sight. The one indulgence: a cluster of hand-painted ceramic chopping boards mounted on the side wall. The kitchen earns that playfulness by being so disciplined everywhere else.

Full-height interior cladding

Treatment rooms are clad floor to ceiling in reclaimed teak panels, assembled in vertical runs with shadow-gap joints rather than tongue-and-groove. The panels are drawn from a single batch of salvaged material, so the colour variation across the walls is a product of the original grain rather than
finishing inconsistency. Darkened ceiling joists — untreated, allowed to oxidise naturally — give the rooms their characteristic depth. A single piece of heritage furniture, a carved wooden chair in colonial-influenced joinery, is placed in each room.

Ironmongery from the original houses

Doors throughout the compound retain their original hand-forged iron hardware — strap hinges with trailing peacock-tail extensions, heavy box locks with separate slam latches, and brass ring-pulls cast in the shell motif that appears across Kerala’s maritime-era domestic architecture. All ironmongery was recovered from the same batch of dismantled structures as the timber. Pieces were cleaned, not polished — surface oxidation and patina retained.

Site furniture and planter troughs

The entry veranda includes a low planter trough carved from a single timber section — a recycled dhoney plank, its hollowed profile original to its previous function. Orchids are planted directly into the cavity. Outdoor furniture in the courtyard follows the same logic: low round-topped pedestal tables in dark teak, paired with flat-woven cane mats. Nothing was purpose-manufactured; all pieces were sourced from existing heritage inventory.

FULL SCOPE OF WORKS

Woodwork components delivered

Structural columns
Turned teak columns, tapered profile, set on laterite plinths — veranda and covered walkway
Reclaimed from dismantled heritage houses; no two identical
Roof structure
Exposed rafter and purlin system in teak; Mangalore clay tile laid on battens
Tile overhang profiled with scalloped barge boards
Ceiling cladding
Flat-run teak plank ceiling — veranda and internal rooms; cross-joists exposed
Oil finish; no paint or stain applied
Wall cladding
Full-height reclaimed teak panels, shadow-gap joinery; treatment rooms and reception
Vertical orientation; colour variation from grain, not finish
Doors & shutters
Board-and-batten doors in thick teak; louvred interior shutters; carved panel accents on entry door
All hardware original to salvaged structures
Ironmongery
Hand-forged strap hinges, box locks, slam latches, brass ring-pulls — peacock-tail and shell motifs
Patina retained; cleaned but not polished
Site furniture
Hollow-log planter trough; pedestal tables; hardwood boardwalk connecting pavilions
Sourced from heritage inventory, not purpose-manufactured

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