Designed for an extended family, Belavali house occupies a five acre rice plantation in the district of Alibag, a forty minute boat journey from Mumbai city.

Conceived as a pavilion in the garden, the house is positioned between the forest to the east and the terraced rice fields to the west.

The project is entered from the east down a broad flight of stairs that opens onto a large verandah straddled between the building. The long narrow structure framed in steel supports a large roof that moves through a series of mango trees. Walls and floor are rendered seamlessly in pigmented cement plaster that define spaces and follow the terraced levels of the paddy fields, leading onto a large stone deck, a pool and view of the mountains.

Masonry walls, glass, wood and timber louvers form the enclosure of the house. The operable facades can be tuned to provide privacy or exposure to changing weather conditions, and control views of the surrounding landscape.

Two small outhouse buildings are set slightly apart from the main house; provide additional living and sleeping spaces for the extended family and guests.

The colonized footprint of the project is controlled and minimized in order to maintain the cultivation of rice. Stone retaining walls used for plantation terracing have been restored, and a network of footpaths paved with reclaimed stone traverses the site and integrates the natural and built environment as they have done for generations.