The project began with a 160-year-old house in India. Modest yet full of quiet charm, the home was restored while adapting it for modern life. A renewed spatial layout breaks down the traditionally compartmentalized spaces into an open-plan with light-filled spaces and a renewed connection to the landscape.

Rather than mimic tradition, the design reinterprets Goan elements, balcao, plaster bands, verandahs, in contemporary ways that balance continuity and change. The traditional balcao was carefully disassembled, expanded, and rebuilt as a verandah that opens onto the landscape. A raised roof created space for a mezzanine, introducing layered communal zones such as an eat-in kitchen below and a family den above. A central courtyard and operable openings brings in light and air, strengthening the indoor-outdoor connection.

A conscious effort was made to reuse and repurpose materials. Salvaged timber and terracotta tiles were reinstalled in the new roof, weaker wood became flooring for the new mezzanine and furniture, old grills, doors, and shutters were reintegrated into the design. Locally sourced laterite and red oxide flooring grounded the home in its context, while insulation and cross-ventilation reduced reliance on 
mechanical cooling.