The Monsoon Residence
A weekend house detailed for four months of rain: charred timber, handmade brick and deep verandas that keep every wall dry.
Project information
- Location
- Alibaug, Maharashtra
- Year
- 2023
- Type
- Coastal house
- Area
- 5,600 sq ft
- Scope
- Interior architecture, furniture, landscape terraces
- Status
- Completed
Design concept
Designed for the wet season first
Most coastal houses are designed for the eight dry months and endure the other four. We inverted the brief: every decision here was tested against monsoon first, and the dry season was allowed to look after itself.
The plan is a simple bar with a 3.6m veranda on the weather side, wide enough that no external wall gets wet in a driving rain. Timber is charred and oiled; brick is handmade and left unrendered; every horizontal surface is given a fall.
Inside, the house darkens deliberately. Deep overhangs mean less light, so surfaces were chosen to hold what little there is — pale lime on the ceilings, warm timber below, and lamps kept low and numerous rather than bright and few.
Material palette
What the room is made of
Handmade brick
Local kiln, unrendered, raked joint.
Woven cane
Screens and cabinet fronts, allowing air through joinery.
Charred timber
Shou sugi ban ballau, oiled annually.
Architecture
Decisions in plan and section
Veranda
3.6m deep on the south-west, sized so wind-driven rain never reaches the wall line.
Levels
Ground floor lifted 900mm on a plinth, with a continuous drainage channel at its foot.
Openings
Full-height sliding screens in cane and teak that can be closed against rain without closing out air.
Interior
Decisions you can touch
Floors
Sealed local basalt inside, the same stone left rough on the veranda.
Storage
Everything ventilated. No sealed cupboard anywhere in the house.
Lamps
19 low-level light points; no ceiling fitting in any living space.
Gallery
The Monsoon Residence in sequence
Project facts
Project facts
18 months
Duration
3.6m deep
Veranda
2,900mm annual
Rainfall
19, all low level
Light points
Demo project — client and figures are sample content
