HeritageArchitectureFoundation-2026-002

Athangudi, Tamil Nadu

We record old buildings before they disappear.

Heritage Architecture Foundation is a public charitable trust based in Coimbatore. We survey India's historic buildings, measuring them, drawing them, photographing them, and publish the records free for everyone to study.

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The archive

Drawings, photographs, maps and voices.

When an old house is pulled down, more than walls are lost. The way the lime was mixed, the reason the courtyard faces east, the name of the carpenter who made the door. We go to buildings with tape measures and cameras, and we sit with the people who live there. What we bring back goes into an open archive that anyone can use.

Measured drawings

Plans, sections and elevations drawn from field surveys.

Photographs

Buildings, details, materials and streets, recorded in order.

Oral histories

Recorded talks with residents, masons and carpenters.

Maps and field notes

Settlement maps, sketches and observation logs.

Browse the archive →

**Carved teak door, Chettinad mansion.** 2026. Field survey.

What we do

Six kinds of work, one record.

01Documentation surveysWe measure and photograph buildings at risk, with owner permission.→ 02The open archiveEverything catalogued, backed up and free to study.→ 03Research and publishingReports, papers and books on Indian building traditions.→ 04Walks and workshopsLearn to see your own city. No experience needed.→ 05Fellowships and grantsSmall funds for students and researchers studying heritage.→ 06School engagementStudents learn to look at and draw buildings in their own neighbourhoods.→

Method

How a survey works, from the first visit to the archive.

Visit

We meet the owners and walk the building.

Measure

Tape, laser and level. Every room, every column.

Draw

Field notes become measured drawings to scale.

Check

We return and check the drawings against the building.

Latest from the field.

14 May 2026Athangudi, Tamil Nadu

Fourteen houses measured in eleven days.

A street of Chettinad mansions, recorded room by room before two are sold. Drawings now in the archive.

2 May 2026Karaikudi

The lime that still holds.

21 Apr 2026Pollachi

A carpenter remembers the door he made.

Survey regions

Where we work.

Tamil Nadu

Chettinad, Madurai, Thanjavur, Kanchipuram, Pollachi. Brick and lime mansions, stone temples, tile-roofed merchant houses, colonial civic buildings.

Kerala

Laterite and timber traditions. Syrian Christian houses with monsoon courtyards. Temple complexes. The domestic architecture of a coastline.

Karnataka

Hampi region, planter bungalows in Madikeri, coastal traditions of Dakshina Kannada. Stone, timber and laterite.

This work runs on small money and long patience.

A day of survey work costs less than most people spend on a weekend. Your support pays for travel, scanning, storage and student stipends. We publish our accounts every year.

Donate → Volunteer on a survey → Send us old photographs →