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Leh’s concrete turn and masons who read the soil with hands

The cold desert faces a dilemma – whether to build coherent with climate and geography or conform to a standardised vertical development model imported from the plains. Leh developed a precisely calibrated, uniquely vernacular architecture with walls made of rammed…

Bricks and stones breathe, Hyderabad is forgetting this

Older homes tend to be 6-8 degrees Celsius cooler than the outdoors which can be traced to their thick lime-plastered walls, masonry roofs, louvred teak shutters, courtyards, ventilators, and shaded openings. Climate-responsiveness was not a property of the building alone…

The erasure of balcaos and sopos from Goa’s architecture

What is celebrated today as Goa’s architecture hardly tells its pre-colonial and colonial history, or is rooted in the local culture, folklore and dynasties which gave it a unique coastal vernacular blend. Like the balcaos – large entrance staircases with…

Hills, canals, and the changing form of Dehradun

Dehradun’s architectural character was a unique blend of native Garhwali traditions, British colonial interventions, Tibetan Buddhist influences, institutional footprints and post-independence developments. Its canals once shaped its urban life, serving as infrastructure, ecological corridors, public spaces and climate regulators. Their…

Ladakhis hastily adapt to rainfall, abandon mud
and flat roofs

In the high-altitude cold desert, homes and monasteries were made for bitter winters and harsh summers, but not for spells of intense rain. The mud roofs leak, mud walls are damaged, forcing people to replace the traditional materials with tin…

‘We need to go beyond literal application of vernacular designs’

Local building materials such as mud, brick, bamboo, local tiles, clay, stone are losing out to steel, concrete, glass and other materials. Romanticising the old does not help; thoughtful application to the current context does. Question of Cities speaks to…

Delhi’s nature as commons: Whose labour for
whose designs?

While natural resources and biodiversity in a Delhi’s park can be seen as the commons, the question is if urban design can move us towards more of a ‘commoning’ society. To look at urban nature as the commons, it would…

Making classrooms comfortable, responding
to heat

Schools need to be viewed as unique sites of heat risk, but thermal comfort and heat adaptation in schools remain poor. Children are physiologically more vulnerable to heat but lack the awareness to recognise their bodies’ distress signals and the…

Why cities need care committees, why rehab buildings are slum-like

Planning a city without adequate attention to design at macro and micro levels across it makes for chaos, clutter, difficulties in access and more. At the intersections of design and gender, and design and rehabilitation housing in Mumbai, Question of…

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