The Courtyard House
Four wings of a family house re-planned around a shaded central court, built in rammed earth, lime and terracotta.
Project information
- Location
- Ahmedabad, Gujarat
- Year
- 2024
- Type
- Family house
- Area
- 6,800 sq ft
- Scope
- Interior architecture, landscape coordination, furniture
- Status
- Completed
Design concept
The house as a shaded field
In Ahmedabad the question is never how to bring more light in — it is how to hold shade. The plan folds four wings around an 8 x 8 metre court so that at every hour of the day some part of the house is in shadow and some part is in sun, and the family moves between them.
Walls are 450mm rammed earth, poured on site in 100mm lifts, with lime plaster where a smoother hand was wanted. Thermal mass does most of the cooling; ceiling fans and cross ventilation do the remainder.
The interior is deliberately unfinished-looking. Nothing is sealed to a gloss, nothing is colour-matched. The house is expected to weather, and the material choices were made so that weathering reads as age rather than damage.
Material palette
What the room is made of
Rammed earth
Site soil stabilised at 6%, poured in visible lifts.
Terracotta
Handmade floor tile, 200mm square, laid with a wide joint.
Lime plaster
Three coats, burnished by hand on the courtyard elevations.
Architecture
Decisions in plan and section
Court
The court is 1.2m below the living level, which drops cool air into the ground floor through deep openings.
Openings
Every external opening is recessed 600mm, giving each window a permanent brow of shade.
Roof
A ventilated double roof over the western wing reduces afternoon gain without air conditioning.
Interior
Decisions you can touch
Floors
One terracotta tile throughout, inside and out, so the court reads as another room.
Furniture
Low, mostly loose, mostly local — designed to be moved into whichever wing is currently in shade.
Water
A single stone channel crosses the court, audible from three of the four wings.
Gallery
The Courtyard House in sequence
Project facts
Project facts
22 months
Duration
8 x 8 metres
Court
450mm rammed earth
Wall
Passive, no central AC
Cooling
Demo project — client and figures are sample content
