Volume Zero Hot 100 of 2023

The client sought a peaceful retirement home in Ramanattukara, Calicut, that combined traditional and modern elements while creating a long-lasting serene environment. The design incorporated elements like glass and flat roofs to create the same. It also responds to tradition while being modern, using sloping roofs and overhangs to resist heavy monsoon showers.

It is a unique Chettinad-style farmhouse designed for a family of six in Tamil Nadu, combining traditional architecture with modern materials, clean lines, and utilities. Located in an existing Mango Groove, it uses sustainable materials like wood, stone and clay bricks, with careful consideration taken of sun and wind movements to create a comfortable atmosphere even in peak summers.

Tirthvilla is a doctor couple's adobe designed in a 'Contemporary Transitional Style', combining contemporary and traditional elements with Boho-chic elements. The home's softness and light colours are the primary language, incorporating every individual's personality and taste in the spaces, also ensuring spacious and open planning that is both practical and aesthetic.

The Idanazhi residence in Palakkad, Kerala, embodies traditional Kerala architecture which is situated in a linear plot with green fields and mountains, dividing into private and public spaces. It features traditional sloping roofs with clay tiles, brick, wood, concrete and an earthy colour palette. The residence blends with the local landscape seamlessly while maintaining the site's linearity and natural elements.

The Maathra residence in Kerala's Wayanad district aimed for minimal façade design and family interaction. The house features a mixed volume of spaces, utilizing the site's slope for additional levels and an open design for light and ventilation. Green spaces enhance the overall visual quality.

This house in Cochin offers an open design that balances nature and privacy, with vast open spaces and courtyards. It incorporates a unique earthy tone and skylights for natural light. The material palette includes Kota stone, reclaimed wood, exposed concrete, and brick, creating a refined ambiance. The use of solar panels and rainwater harvesting systems contributes to the eco-friendly design.

The Cube house, located in Vadodara, is a minimalist design based on Vaastu principles, keeping in mind the flow of natural light and ventilation. It showcases subtlety and timelessness in design, featuring a warm wooden interior and a grey front elevation, connecting indoors and outdoors through strategically placed windows and balconies.

The House at Stop 8 is a two-floor villa in Margao, Goa, designed to embody the tropical state’s rich heritage while incorporating modernity. The villa features a ground floor with an open plan, a two-decade-old frangipani tree, Mangalore roof tiles, open-to-sky courtyards, floor-to-ceiling clear glass and bare concrete walls. 

The house is a modern urban space designed to harmoniously blend with the community and culture. It stands on a 1500 sq. ft. plot, with visibility from roads and adjoining houses. The minimalist exterior, climate-responsive façade, and clutter-free interiors create a tranquil atmosphere, while the open layout creates spaciousness.

Khayaal is a tropical contemporary architecture that stands proud amidst lush green landscapes. It offers ample natural light and ventilation, blending seamlessly with the site's context and climate. The design uses earth-derived materials like fired bricks, clay tiles, natural kota stone and glass facades. Sloping roofs and courtyards with tropical greens help regulate the internal climate.

It features a minimalist design with clean lines, exposed brickwork, weather shades, metal screens and glass windows. The open floor plan, large windows, and connection to the outdoors make it a perfect example of modern architecture. The natural earthy tones and rough brickwork add warmth and texture, while the minimal colour scheme maintains a striking look.

A villa in Tirupur city that featured a neutral colour palette, large openings, and natural lighting. The design aimed for openness and privacy without compromising privacy. Vaastu was a key requirement, and the landscape design complemented the neutral colour palette. The villa combined uniqueness and functionality to its best.

Kanasu features a three-story structure with a luxury pool on the terrace, surrounded by vegetation and providing space for informal social gatherings. The interiors are coordinated around a massive double-height volume, allowing for natural light and deliberate interaction with the elements outside. The goal was to offer a modern house and use tactile materials in tune with nature.

Samruddhi is a house in Surat designed for a family of three prospering generations. The building faced challenges in maintaining its humble scale and integrating a double-height courtyard for natural light and air. The spatial configuration focused on functional spaces around the courtyard. The materials used, brick and exposed concrete, addressed structural, climatic, sustainable and aesthetic needs.

The residence, designed for a family of 5, is situated in rural Bangalore, surrounded by agricultural lands and Nandi Hills. The design focuses on seamless interpolation of landscape and built spaces, using locally sourced brick, exposed concrete and plastered white walls as a contemporary expression of tropical architecture. The landscape integrated into the centre created a spacious house while minimizing circulation.

Brick Little House is a unique home built on a small plot, focusing on a harmonious connection between living spaces and a garden. It incorporates split levels on upper floors, reducing the building's volume. The garden and eucalyptus plantation create a serene oasis. The facade features a playful brick screen, and the interiors feature exposed brick and leather-finished Kota stone.

The site in Ahmedabad aims to create a synchronized and subtle architecture. The building and surrounding landscape generate horizontal lines, creating a visually engaging composition. The west facade features floating horizontal planes, while the north and east facades feature asymmetrical compositions. The building's colours range from mid-grey to charcoal grey, with random stone lines accentuating the horizontal composition.

This is a Tropical Modern Architecture Building designed for a real estate promoter's Middle Income Group clientele, featuring a three-bedroom compact house with a unique blend of plain white walls and a concrete flying roof, creating a warm, inviting atmosphere and maintaining a sleek, contemporary design. The focus on functionality, space optimization and energy efficiency all make it good architecture.

The residence was designed to balance introverted with extroverted spaces. It features a corridor path, green pockets, vertical spatial voids, earthy materials, intricate athangudi tiles, terracotta elements, darker wooden tones and elements like thinnais and arched doorways while maintaining a balance between public and private spaces. The residence prioritizes conversations and lifestyle patterns, providing spaces for seamless interactions within it.

The Oikos Residence in Koothuparamba, Kannur, Kerala, combines traditional and modern design principles for a fresh, updated look. The exterior features brick cladding, Kota stones, wood and clay roofing tiles, while the colour palette combines traditional and modern tones in neutral colours like grey, white, brown, yellow, and green.

This residence in Mysuru offers a light and airy space with an open floor plan for an elderly couple. Combining modern and traditional elements, it creates a visually connected environment, featuring verandahs, balconies, terraces, and a large backyard with a private pool. The simple yet functional layout includes all the amenities needed for the elderly couple. 

The house is built around an introspective courtyard, creating a central space with multi-level interactions. The skylight and lush green plantation add life to the house. Its massing is a floating brick box, where a greenery curtain breaks the façade. The residence may seem simple to a layman, but its unique character is experienced only by its residents.

The elderly couple, retired teachers, sought a minimalistic, budget-friendly house near Manyata Tech Park. Inspired by Wada houses in North Karnataka, the house features two courtyards, one for visitors and one for the house's inhabitants. The façade is simple with louvers and projections, and the color scheme is plain white with hints of pale blue.

This home is designed to maximize light and ventilation featuring a staircase landing, skylights and a stack effect, creating a cool, rejuvenating atmosphere. The earthy tones of mushroom stone flooring balance the wood texture, and the walls painted in a neutral, earthy brown highlight the brick facade. It is a utilitarian home, blending traditional aesthetics with a tight-knit, box-like space.

The client wanted a comfortable dwelling away from the city. The design incorporated landscape to enhance liveability and provide a tropical setting. It features multiple gathering spaces, designed for maximum interaction with friends and family. The central double height serves as the heart of the built environment, providing lighting and ventilation. This residence exemplifies spatial excellence in minimal scope.

The house, originally a bungalow, blends Indian and contemporary architectural styles. It features vertical expansion, solid walls, double-height spaces, a pergola, and symmetrical rectangular openings. The house celebrates Indian elements while maintaining a contemporary feel, using bursts of colour against an achromatic theme and unifying opposing elements.

NRI clients Mrs Tabu and Mr Rajesh sought a residence in Vadakara for their parents' retirement. The home features a courtyard, passage, and patio, providing ventilation and light. The dining area extends into the patio, making it a popular area for family gatherings.

This Pune-based house is a luxurious modern spacious home featuring a central green space allowing for inside-outside interaction. The house's interiors are clean, clutter-free, and simple, with double-height living spaces and large openings for natural light. The front facade features cantilevered canopies, creating interesting compositions when viewed from different locations.

House 05 in Tithal, Gujarat, is a unique residence designed in regional modernism, blending nostalgia with modern materials and sustainability strategies. The house features load-bearing brick walls, strategically placed windows for daylight, and cross ventilation for year-round use. It is equipped with photovoltaic panels and a rainwater tank, providing solar energy and potable water for consumption. 

The design aims to maintain the neighborhood's cordiality while catering to a 3-bedroom program. The compound wall transforms from guarding to accommodating, creating a welcoming public space. The house's core is a transverse east-west section, with a courtyard for Onam celebrations and casual chats. The house's spatiality is defined by its walls filtering light.

Unniyettan Home focuses on minimalist architecture, aiming to simplify life. Empty spaces are used to draw attention to key architectural elements, while functional planning and efficient natural air and light ventilation are prioritized. The palette of materials is carefully selected, ensuring ease of maintenance and avoiding unnecessary cosmetic treatments.

The design features a rustic material palette with two colour tones, a minimalist entrance, RCC textured walls, acrylic sheets and black lacquered glass shutters. The use of exposed brick walls, metal framework and paint in the rooms each gives them a timeless and playful identity.

The bungalow design is simple and spacious, catering to various age groups. It balances public and private spaces, using stone on lower levels and neutral shades on upper levels. Mirrors enhance natural light and create illusions of larger spaces. Large windows maximize natural light, brick surfaces in bedrooms add warmth and character while textural variations add contrast.

The clients wanted an ancestral home-inspired modern weekend home, featuring internal courtyards, clay-tiled low roofs, and vibrant colours. Traditional elements like wood-carved doors and windows were used as aesthetic structural members. The house was divided into three bays to not make the structure overwhelming. The central courtyard is lined with basalt stone, providing relief from the vast views outside.

This residential project in Kerala showcases the blend of traditional Kerala architecture with modern minimalism. Designed for privacy, security, and natural light, it features inclined mud roofing, exposed brick walls, and concrete finishes, creating a tropical feel. The color palette features mud, brick, and concrete finishes with white walls and natural wood.

Set in Bhopal, the design combines contemporary elements with Indian elements, creating a homely feel and celebrating local art forms. The inclusion of elements like triple-height spaces, a skylit staircase, green pockets and a mixed material palette give the house its character.

The restaurant is designed with a zero-food wastage concept, using teak wood furniture, kota stone, granite flooring, and cardboard lighting. The facade uses Mangalore tiles, concrete panels, and steel fabrication, with over 90% repurposed from waste from the client's ancestral home, subtly integrating sustainability into the design.

The house in Chennai features an L-shaped plan with a strong North-South axis, framed by an ancient Raintree. The living area has a central pavilion-like location with views of nature. The house's materiality includes polished grey Kota stone, walnut wood, and accent cast concrete walls, promoting cross-ventilation and keeping the living area cool during Chennai summers.

Haya is a stunning residence in Wandoor, designed with tropical elements, offering a resort-like ambiance and stunning views of the landscape. The central courtyard provides privacy and tranquillity, with each bedroom enjoying a view. The glass and wooden shutters enhance aesthetics and provide security, creating an oasis for families to escape daily life.

The clients wanted their spaces to reminisce memories of their former residence, using a traditional palette with modern adaptations. The interiors were designed to be socially welcoming and emotionally connected. A subtle balance between traditional and contemporary materials was achieved, using natural textures and refined surfaces. The architectural material palette included teak wood tones, Kota green greys, whites and greens.

The Slab House in Taliparamba was designed to provide shade and vegetation to control interior temperature. The large canopy acts as a roof and terrace, while louvered doors allow wind flow and shade. The home features a double-height living space, an open staircase, a mezzanine space and an elevated terrace for views. It is a product of its environment.

• Year Built: 2022

• Area: 1259 sq. ft.

• Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Presented with a narrow site, the design included living, dining and kitchen areas on the ground floor, with an ensuite bedroom on the first floor. The interior spaces maintain light and air circulation and takes advantage of the site's longitudinal slope. The house features an internal courtyard with green foliage, vertically expanded internal volumes and a functional triad of spaces.

Vaastu Shastra majorly influenced the spatial organization of the house. The façade is divided into a 3x3 grid, with elongated masses and frames. The ground floor features a parking space, a living room-dining space, a Puja room, a kitchen, and bedrooms. The upper floors feature a master bedroom, a home theatre, a home office, a guest bedroom and informal living.

The residence is designed with eco-friendly features, characterized by multiple indoor courtyards and outdoor connections, focusing on sunlight, cross ventilation, and local visuals. The interior is designed to maximize space, with a central courtyard connecting the upper level. The house has natural ventilation throughout all levels, eliminating the need for air conditioning.

The project aimed to create a seamless house for a joint family, featuring large communal areas like a living room, dining room, and outdoor spaces connected by a beautiful water body. The house was designed to complement the natural surroundings, using materials like wood and stone that blend in with the environment.

It is a simple, close-knit family home designed with exposed clay bricks, natural wood, and stone textures. It features three bedrooms, a guest room, and a balcony. The living and dining areas are connected, with a custom-fluted glass partition and skylight for natural light, with the outdoor veranda as the focal point.

A sanctuary designed for clients seeking a creative space, the design heightens boundary walls to strengthen the interior and exterior connection. The massing is slowly terraced to maintain proportions. The calming pond, airy landscaped courts, and seamless plan create a tranquil atmosphere, while rustic textures and materials add elegance and sophistication to the tropical milieu.

The house is camouflaged in the front yard, reducing visibility and allowing only a small section to be visible. It uses indirect natural light, reducing energy consumption and utility costs. The minimalistic design emphasizes cleanliness, simplicity, and adherence to Vaastu principles, promoting a sense of serenity and organization. The design connects each room vertically and horizontally, enhancing functionality and comfort.

This is a revamp project transforming a house into a mixed-use residence-cum-office space. The house now accommodates a residence, a design studio and a recreational/multipurpose space. The facade is inspired by Saree, symbolizing elegance and heritage. Bamboo was the primary material, giving a sustainable, lightweight and organic look. The house's design prioritizes health, using leather-stone finishes, golden limestone flooring and oil-based paints.

The Caper residence offers calmness in daily life. The house features exposed concrete and natural brick finishes, fostering sustainable design through courtyards, air movement, and natural light. The space includes two levels, four bedrooms, and a double-height open courtyard, responding to the climate and context.

VAIRAAG is a modern suburban house with contrasting rustic elements. The house features a raw concrete exterior with exposed bricks and rustic metal, a grey picket fence, and a simple grey picket fence. Customized Corten steel jalis add a modern look to the front façade. Traditional Indian touches and Western and contemporary designs contribute to the aesthetically pleasing design.

Bougain Villa blends contemporary living with organic elements, focusing on warmth, comfort, and natural light. The indoor landscape court draws a thin veil between the outside world and indoor space, capturing the interplay of light and shadow. Pet-friendly features and open floor plans make it a perfect place for family activities, fostering a deep appreciation for the world around them.

The house was designed from two rectangular blocks, with a central courtyard serving as a focal point and an elevated central courtyard to prevent waterlogging. The house features exposed brick walls along with Kota stone flooring and is a self-sufficient entity, using solar panels and percolation wells to maintain groundwater levels. Coexisting with nature, it creates balance and visual harmony.

The OM Shiv bungalow in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, is a luxurious, open and contemporary residence with a unique appeal. It features a variety of materials, vivid wall art, and modern furniture, creating a bold interior statement. The earthy palette scheme and colourful upholstery add to the home's natural light and freshness, while the ample living and personal spaces add brightness.

The client's brief called for an ethnic design blending modern spaces with traditional elements. This house combines vernacular craftsmanship with traditional detailing and ornamented wooden carvings, creating a tranquil atmosphere. The subtle colour palette, patterns, textures, and lighting create a home for two.

The combination of the traditional and modern elevations of this house is very remarkable. Through projections, it combines the modernism of corner windows with the minuscule detailing and reticence of current architecture. This project skilfully combines contemporary elegance and aesthetics with charming Keralan design elements. It was thoughtfully planned to have an elegant exterior and interior from the very beginning.

The design focuses on tree conservation, with a challenge to incorporate a terrace garden on the first floor and a spill-out space on each floor. The elevation combines exposed concrete, bricks and tree foliage, with a grand concrete cantilever for the terrace garden and ground-level parking. Customized Corten steel jalis in the east and west complement the exposed materials.

The house features a double-height court, garden and windows that allow for connection with nature while maintaining privacy. The material palette is raw and unadorned, giving the house a contemporary urban aesthetic. It features exposed brick cladding, Jali, oxide finish, mud plaster, leather-finished Kota stone, mosaic and bare mild steel. Passive cooling techniques and energy-saving systems are integrated, reducing environmental impact.

This modern home in Gurugram features a minimalist design with a double-height central lightwell inspired by traditional Rajasthani courtyards, perforated screen, and strategically placed openings, complemented by a neutral material palette and lightweight staircase all in all adding to the clean and simple aesthetic of the home.

The design philosophy combines rustic themes with contemporary finishes for comfortable work-from-home weekends. The house follows the Indian Vaastu Shastra mandala, with two cuboids hosting living and cooking spaces, a dining area, an outdoor deck, and a plunge pool. The house features contemporary semi-outdoor spaces and open courts, regulating the microclimate and evoking calmness.

The family envisioned a spacious, intimate home with outdoor views and a terracotta jail. The home features balconies, planter pockets, and five bedrooms. Large windows and skylights provide ample daylight. Brick-clad walls create shadow play, and custom-made terracotta lamps and artworks add authenticity to common spaces. The nonchalant floating metal staircase adds to the home's aesthetic appeal.

The house features a triple-height form-finished wall, skylights, and a clean composition of internal volumes and voids. The ground floor allows a constant connection to the outdoors. The upper level is a family refuge with rooms. The house's materiality is a mixture of beige tile floors, gypsum white ceilings, cane sheet-based partitions and cast concrete surfaces.

The residence is spread across four floors, each with unique functions and spatial designs. The exterior is sleek with windows, while the colour palette includes muted shades of red, blues, pink, ochre, and green. Each floor features geometric slits for natural light. The third floor offers a cliff-like feel with Tandur flooring, glass and white walls.

To accommodate large parking and voluminous rooms, the ground floor was made a parking space and the first floor was the main entrance. Aiming to have a minimum carbon footprint and a natural material palette, it features aluminium baffles, exposed R.C.C. ceilings and Kota stone flooring. Public areas have a neutral colour palette, while private areas have a unique colour palette.

The house features a dual courtyard, connecting the living and kitchen areas, and bedrooms, providing privacy. The house is designed with exposed brick and cement plaster, with the west courtyard featuring an intricate brick parametric wall with tall plants, and the east courtyard featuring a Chinese Ficus tree, breaking the brick and concrete aesthetic.

A new microbrewery and kitchen were to be designed in a dense urban setting. The design features a bold composition of projecting mass, solid and void texture, and a landscaped trellis structure. The building features floating seating islands, a 20-foot-high waterfall, and a simple material palette, offering a serene escape from the city's hustle and bustle.

The house is a ground plus one structure with a basement for entertainment and a veranda for relaxation. Ground floor spaces are centered around a central courtyard, similar to pol houses in Ahmedabad. Materials used include exposed concrete, brick, wooden panelling, and Kota stone flooring, all locally sourced to maintain a connection to local roots.

The home focuses on the garden and valley view, fostering a sense of belonging to the Coorg culture. The design features interconnected spaces, including an outdoor room with a valley view. The home's unique quality preserves place and culture while responding to contemporary living spaces, creating a sense of connectedness between past, present, and future.

The home in South Bangalore features a contemporary duplex over a rented apartment, combining volumes, natural light, and greenery. The plot includes a dining court, pooja room, balconies, skylights, levels, platforms and interactive zones. The warmth of wood complements the minimal colour and material palette.

It is a serene sanctuary with large windows, jalis, and skylights, offering natural light and stunning views of greenery. The minimalist design promotes a clean, uncluttered environment, reducing energy consumption and maintaining a cooler temperature. The house's white interior walls contrast with the vibrant green fields, creating a serene backdrop.

The house follows a traditional spatial planning system, with a courtyard as the central activity space. The exterior is made of stone and exposed brick, with natural stones for flooring and stone slabs for partitions. The home focuses on simplicity, sustainability, and a blend of indoor and outdoor spaces, blending timeless charm with traditional touches.

Belaku aims to provide a well-lit, natural light-filled home for a client, with wide openings on the north and east sides and a 4-foot-wide room for lighting and ventilation. The dark flooring, black leather, polished black stone, and yellow granite reflect natural light. The project also features a brick screen wall for privacy and a C-shaped envelope to connect the residences.

Roshan Villa features a grid layout with linear blocks and gabbled roofs for efficiency and privacy. Clients wanted large common areas for interactions, so bedrooms were minimal yet functional. The courtyard is surrounded by bricks, water, and a lush green softscape. The villa uses rubble, cement blocks, concrete, and Mangalore roofing tiles. The villa's paint palette is minimal, highlighting blue and pastel colours.

Dhvani is a serene renovation project in a landscaped residential area on the outskirts of the city, featuring tropical modernism materials like exposed brick cement walls, jali work, and a sloping roof. The residence caters to the client's needs and ensures functional utility in every space.

The elevation of the House of Patterns is a play of volume, textures, and patterns. The most striking and distinctive feature is the façade, which consists of two distinct Jali patterns. It attempts to combine homes from two distinct eras. A complete renovation was carried out to increase the interior space and redesign the facade into something elegant and functional.

The House of Skylights is a Pune-based residence featuring a raintree, a ground floor with a living room, kitchen, guest bedroom, and office study, and a first floor with sons' bedrooms, a music practice room, a pavilion, terrace, and solar panels. Natural materials like marble and Gokak stone add charm, and skylights and tropical plants provide natural light.

The building is designed to accommodate multiple user groups and provide a serene atmosphere. It features open spaces, minimal physical barriers, and a private courtyard. The programmatic allocation includes three bedrooms, a kitchen, a family living-dining space, and a study corner. The design integrates the environment, site conditions, and natural resources, creating a biophilic design that is graceful and life-enhancing.

The design aimed to create a minimalist, monolithic façade with a front garden. The house occupies the rear half, and the front garden wraps along the porch and atop the roof, providing green space for the terrace lounge. The house contains common areas opening to the front garden. A vertical puncture with curves binds the structure, breaking its rigidity with grace.

The rectangular residence integrates indoor public spaces with outdoor spaces. The staircase cabin serves as a transitional space, with the first level transforming into a covered balcony. The home features timeless timber elements and modern furnishings, with communal spaces on the ground floor and outdoor terraces on the upper floor.

The Linear house in Mandvi, Gujarat, provides a seamless visual connection between spaces, adequate privacy and ample daylight by adding a floating bridge and a central staircase. A rotating terracotta brick Jali and tree protect the kids' bedroom from the sun. The roof skylight maximizes natural light and optimizes solar panel placement, making the house more sustainable and energy efficient.

The design aimed to create an interactive and inward-looking environment so the planning was simplified, with rooms, semi-covered terraces, and open-to-sky terraces. The courtyard, provides light and ventilation and is the heart of the hostel. The project uses locally available clay bricks for a rustic effect, with minimal plastered walls, brick Jali, and fenestration plans based on surrounding trees. 

The residence in Bangalore blurs the line between indoors and outdoors with habitable levels elevated, leaving the ground floor exclusively for parking. The ground floor is a verdant oasis with meticulously landscaped gardens, a captivating water feature, and strategically positioned courtyards. A swing in the central courtyard invites residents to relax in the lap of nature.

The design of a tranquil, lush green setting in Wandoor, Kerala, incorporates a tropically adaptive inclined canopy over contemporary four-walled blocks. The design integrates indoor and outdoor living spaces, maximizing airflow and lighting, and minimizing heat gain through strategically placed windows, ensuring ease of airflow across pathways.

It is a serene family home in Thrissur, blending traditional charm with modern functionality. The wooden-clad sit-out with palm tree pillars sets the tone for tranquility, while the double-height living area shines in natural light. Each room tells a unique story, blending Kerala's architectural essence with contemporary comforts.

The house in Kollam, Kerala, is designed with landscape inserts to buffer and provide privacy. The contemporary blend of traditional Kerala architecture and terracotta sloping roof, exposed brick pseudo walls and earthy hues complement the tropical landscape. It features minimal wall partitions, a skylight, two pocket courtyards, a family area and a reading room.

The architect built a home in Coimbatore inspired by her memories. The house blends traditional South Indian temple architecture, Chettinad style ancestral house and British Colonial design. It features elegant interiors, artifacts, furniture, and design stories. Key highlights include climate-responsive techniques, natural light, ventilation, local art, and harmonious design syntax.

This home aims to create a flexible space incorporating natural light and ventilation. The design includes an on-grid solar system, solar water heater and rainwater harvesting systems. It also incorporates a 3-layered facade, with a 220mm external wall to prevent direct sunlight, a green layer to block dust and generate oxygen and a bamboo screen for a unique aesthetic.

A Kerala-inspired home designed to embrace the monsoon season atop the brooks, the large parasol roof directs rainwater, creating varied experiences. The home features a curved wall, brick walls and locally sourced cane reeds. The single-storey home aims to create functional spaces, connecting bedrooms and a central courtyard. The roof slab creates a floating roof, capturing Kerala's monsoon essence.

The weekend home in South Bangalore is a blend of modern lifestyle and vernacular nuances. It draws inspiration from simple forms and native bearings with earthy tones. The house's minimal design language allows for informal seating and conversation, while its compactness and verdant nature are combined with a contemporary approach.

The Frangipani house is a two-storey house in Kechery, Thrissur, featuring three Frangipani courtyards. The design focuses on the Frangipani tree as the focal point, with leaf and flower patterns incorporated into the interiors. The landscape design blends the green frangipani courtyards into the house, enhancing the living environment.

Karai is a weekend home designed to provide a sense of living in the palms of Mother Earth. Built using native yet contemporary techniques, the home features four rooms with attached baths, a lounge and a multifunctional space called the mutram. Regional techniques and reused reclaimed materials were used. Karai aimed to bridge the disconnect between man and the environment.

This single house was split into a twin house for two brothers and their families. The house features a common lobby, a double-height central open-to-sky court and a private family space. There are two separate houses with four bedrooms each, with separate kitchens and dining areas. The main staircases are free-floating open risers, and the bedrooms are arranged around a central common landing.

The office space is minimalistic and contemporary, incorporating tropical architecture. It features a rectangular plan, a water body, vertical trailing plants, circular concrete columns, a workstation, a conference room, a foot spa, a water body and shrubs. The design evokes a sense of nature, with a balanced hardscape and softscape, and a bridge connecting old and new spaces.

Alibhais House is a tropical modern house in Malappuram, Kerala, designed to blend traditional Kerala architecture with modern elements. The house features a sit-out, a foyer, a double-height living area, a staircase, and a courtyard, all surrounded by a mango tree and vernacular plantations.

The Himadri villa maintains interconnection between semi-private and private spaces through landscape pockets on each floor. The material palette includes red brick cladding, sandstone, Corten steel, and beige and grey textures. The main intention was to create breathing spaces, with lighting and ventilation directed through windows and niches. The villa provides collaborative spaces on each level and private spaces.

This beachfront property in Chennai is designed as a gift for a father's daughter's wedding. Elevated by 1.5 meters, it features a meandering pedestrian approach, a large great room and a triple-height space with a sea view. The façade is double-skinned with porotherm blocks and half-cut bricks with the roof doubly insulated.

The house is a blend of traditional and modern elements, featuring a central common space with a wide, open, and well-lit area. Inspired by sub-tropical architecture, it features sloping and flat roofs, large linear ventilators for passive cooling and large open windows for natural ventilation. Each space has outer walls for cross ventilation, and the house expresses seasonal moods with stone claddings and Mangalore roof tiles.

A weekend home is designed to blend in with the site's natural topography, using a mono-roof with an inverted curved profile and a continuous clearstory window. The entry is discreet and leads to the open living area, bedrooms, and kitchen. The project breaks the norm of traditional architecture and responds to the rich site and surrounding environment.

The proposed dwelling in Dhotre, Maharashtra, combines two built forms connected by a covered pathway, using a cost-effective experimental approach. The project aims to create an accommodative, versatile, and inventive built form, illustrating an apt rural response and capturing the realities of an agriculturalist's lifestyle.

All things considered, the most popular projects show the interest that our community of professionals and emerging designers have in analysing new, more involved, forms of architecture. Some of the key features in the above projects that are one of its kind entail- breaking the monoliths and blending the built and unbuilt, practise of traditional architecture with a contemporary touch, use of earthy hues and minimalism in design along with climate responsive techniques and passive strategies. We believe that each project tells a unique story and reflects the passion and expertise of the architects and designers involved. 

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Thank you for being a part of the Volume Zero community. We look forward to a new year filled with even more exciting projects and innovations!

Text provided by Devangi Shah-

Devangi is a practicing architect, who considers Architecture like a bottomless pit that consistently keeps brimming with a different area of scope it can tackle and get to the bottom of. She likes to question the world around her and induce her creative limits through research and documentation. Her research enthusiast self believes, “Architecture is the art of designing for the present by reflecting upon our past, sensitively keeping in mind our future.”