Just like any language, even in architecture we should never forget our basics, reflects architect Hari Mohan Pillai

To build a firm building, the foundation has to be strong. One that has been laid with much thought and consideration and what better than a design or a form that has given comfort to people for over centuries," we hear architect Hari Mohan Pillai speak as we step into the hall of Chitkara College of Architecture, Sector 25, where he was giving a presentation on 'Sustainable Sensibility & The Vernacular Architecture of Kerala'. Speaking in favour of vernacular and traditional architecture, he feels contemporary designs should be arrived at out of the tried and tested elements. "To discard what's proven its worth over years only to follow the abstract does not yield profitable results," Pillai substantiates it with live case studies from Kerala where houses on pure modern lines with flat roofs had to be sheltered with another make-shift slanting roof to protect from the weather.

"In architecture, while planning or erecting a structure, climate plays a very important role," Pillai says that's where vernacular architecture comes into light. "With limited resources, vernacular architecture of any area is derived out of the need to use less energy and natural resources and to reduce waste emission and pollution," he points out that though it's now that we brag of "sustainable and green architecture," when in reality it was practiced on a larger scale in the earlier years.

A graduate from IIT Kharagpur and a PhD, Pillai also touched upon the fast evaporating dictionary of vernacular architecture "that speaks of the true tastes of any region, culture or caste" but not before talking about the phase of transition, "where modern sensibilities meet traditional ideas and the linkage forms into a wonder structure". One that he calls 'The Timeless Retreat'. Truly classic!