Indoor-Outdoor Living Architecture
We design homes that erase the line between interior rooms and the natural world, using deep overhangs, sliding panels, and seamless flooring to pull the outdoors in.
An empty room in the 'House of Canopies' project, where the polished concrete floor reflects the garden outside. The floor-to-ceiling glass doors open completely, transforming the living area into a covered pavilion within the landscape.
In my 'Houses by a Park' project, the balcony becomes a green carpet, visually extending into the park across the road. This is what I call 'borrowed landscape', where we embrace the surroundings to make the home feel boundless.
A custom-designed swing on the veranda of the 'House of Canopies'. This space is neither fully inside nor fully outside, offering a sheltered spot to enjoy the garden, embodying the essence of tropical living.
This seating area is enclosed in glass, creating a sunroom that feels like sitting in the middle of the garden. The deep roof overhangs provide shade, making it a comfortable space to enjoy the view year-round.
The play of morning light and shadow across the polished concrete veranda. The home's structure is designed to interact with the sun's path, creating a dynamic visual experience throughout the day.
Stone pavers create an informal path through the lawn, leading the eye and the foot from the house into the garden. This simple detail strengthens the physical and visual link between the built and natural environments.
A view from the garden looking back at the glass-walled structure. The design uses landscaping and natural elements to frame views and create moments of intimacy and connection with nature.
About this collection
The secret to true indoor-outdoor living is not just big windows. It is about how the flooring flows from your living room onto the balcony or garden, using materials like cast in-situ terrazzo or stone that handle weather and wear well. We often use sliding or pivot panels in teak or fluted glass to let you control how open or private a space feels at any moment.
When we design for indoor-outdoor living, we treat the threshold between your home and the environment as a distinct space. It is a dialogue between the interior and the landscape. We rely on techniques like the borrowed landscape, where a park or garden view is framed to become part of your interior palette.
Materials play a pivotal role. We use in-situ terrazzo, polished concrete, and natural stone that carries through from indoor living areas to exterior verandas. This continuity of material helps remove the visual barrier between two spaces.
We also integrate structural solutions such as cantilevered roofs that provide shade while allowing for full-height sliding glass doors. These allow you to open up a room to the elements during the day and secure it comfortably at night.
In our House of Canopies project in Bangalore, we used cascading roof lines to create sheltered outdoor rooms. These areas are neither fully inside nor fully outside, serving as a functional extension of the home that adapts to the weather. Our goal is to craft spaces that invite the outdoors in, ensuring your home feels connected to its surroundings.
Studio Motley
We are Studio Motley, and for us, architecture is about stitching stories together rather than just building walls. We mix Indian crafts with modern materials to create homes that feel grounded, breathing with nature instead of blocking it out.
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