- Project: The House of Parallel Walls
- Architect: PVDRS
- Location: India, Ahmedabad
- Year: 2025
- Area: 1298 m2
- Photography: Umang Shah
Parallel walls as climate, structure, and story
In Ahmedabad’s hot–dry climate, The House of Parallel Walls translates a simple diagram into a complete living system. Two thick, north–south parallel walls define the architecture, shielding interiors from harsh east–west sun while opening the home generously to north and south verandas. Between these lines, the house choreographs shade, breeze, and privacy—turning climate response into an aesthetic language.
A double-height living room forms the social heart of the joint-family home. Circulation, verandah, and living merge into a fluid field rather than discrete rooms; thresholds are softened by deep reveals, long overhangs, and sliding–folding screens that tune light and air across the day.
Site strategy: garden to the rear, wind at your side
Rejecting the typical street-front lawn, the primary garden sits at the rear for privacy and to capture south-westerly winds. A shaded veranda becomes an outdoor living room, connecting directly to the master suite and a lounge tucked below. The approach sequence—entry wall, filtered shadows, arrival court—recalls the khadki and chowk of old Ahmedabad houses, updated here as a calm pause between city and home.
Sectional life: a house organized around a core
Verticality drives the plan. A light-filled double-height vestibule with a crafted stair leads across a slim bridge to the living hall, tying arrival to the social core. Bedrooms occupy the four corners around this nucleus for acoustic and visual privacy; family areas and terraces stitch them together. The result is an easy-to-read plan that lets multiple generations share space without crowding.
Environmental intelligence by design
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Orientation: Solid side walls on east and west mute heat gain; principal openings face north/south for softer light.
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Shading & porosity: Screens and verandas modulate sun and sightlines; cross-ventilation is encouraged by aligned apertures and a pressure-balanced plan.
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Thermal mass: The thick masonry/concrete envelope tempers day–night swings, reducing reliance on mechanical cooling.
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Microclimate: Courtyard, planting, and water elements help cool intake air and extend outdoor comfort.
Materials & craft: quiet, tactile, durable
A restrained palette emphasizes light and shadow: grey plaster and exposed concrete form robust outer shells; interiors warm to timber ceilings and paneling, teak doors and windows, and grey marble floors. Details are crisp—deep jambs, expressed lintels, fine handrails—so the house reads as carefully made rather than merely assembled.
Everyday rituals, many ways to live
Spaces are designed for simultaneity: grandparents on the veranda, children in the double-height hall, quiet work nooks along the spine, and evening gatherings spilling into the rear garden. By aligning climate sense with family life, the house avoids spectacle; its luxury is usability—in summer shade, in winter sun, and in the long interstitial seasons between.
