Blurring Boundaries: Indoor-Outdoor Living
We design spaces where the lines between architecture and landscape disappear. By integrating courtyards, large-span glazing, and natural ventilation, we create homes that breathe with their surroundings.
A central courtyard in a recently completed house, designed as a tranquil heart of the home. The inclusion of a tree and simple landscaping, combined with the concrete and wood material palette, creates a peaceful, private outdoor room.
The pool at our Alibaug holiday home, designed to reflect the clean lines of the architecture. The living space opens directly onto the pool deck, completely erasing the line between the interior and the serene outdoor environment.
Soft morning light fills a daughter's bedroom in the Debris Block House. The large window offers verdant views, while the custom jaali screen provides ventilation and security, allowing the window to be left open.
From the living room of the Debris Block House, the garden is always in view through floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. We brought a tree inside to further enhance the connection to nature and draw light down from a skylight above.
From the living room of the Debris Block House, the garden is always in view through floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. We brought a tree inside to further enhance the connection to nature and draw light down from a skylight above.
A wider perspective of the outdoor dining area nestled under a tamarind tree. The space includes a comfortable swing, making it a versatile retreat for both dining and quiet relaxation, day or night.
This glowing portal at our Hyderabad lake house frames the dining area, looking out towards the landscape. The massive, fixed-glass window makes the surrounding nature feel like a piece of art inside the home.
This glowing portal at our Hyderabad lake house frames the dining area, looking out towards the landscape. The massive, fixed-glass window makes the surrounding nature feel like a piece of art inside the home.
About Blurring Boundaries: Indoor-Outdoor Living
Achieving a true indoor-outdoor connection requires more than just installing large glass doors. We frequently re-engineer structural beams and modify floor slabs to allow for wide, unobstructed spans. This enables us to open up your living room to a garden or courtyard without compromising the structural integrity or thermal comfort of your home.
Bridging the Gap
When we design for indoor-outdoor living, our goal is to dissolve the physical separation between your home and the landscape. It is not simply about adding windows. It requires a fundamental shift in how we approach the building shell.
At the Debris Block House in Bangalore, we used floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors to extend the living area directly onto the garden. By bringing the landscape into the line of sight, the garden becomes an extension of the interior. This is not just visual. It is about airflow. By strategically placing openings, we invite cross-ventilation that keeps the home cool naturally.
Structural Challenges
Creating these large openings involves significant civil work. We often have to cut into existing slabs or design support systems to carry the load of the roof above a wide sliding door. In our project in Alibaug, the living area opens directly to a pool deck. To achieve this, we carefully manage the transition between the indoor floor and the outdoor paving to ensure water drainage and thermal insulation are handled correctly.
Materials & Light
We often use material transitions to blur the lines further. Extending the same flooring material from the interior out to a patio, or carrying a wall finish from inside to a courtyard, makes the space read as one continuous volume. Natural light, whether from these large doors or overhead skylights, changes the mood of the room throughout the day, ensuring the space feels dynamic and alive.
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