The Fortress

Located in Friends Colony, Delhi, the residence is conceived as a contemporary home for an extended family, bringing four households together within a single architectural composition. The brief called for more than scale alone. It required a way of accommodating multiple generations and distinct domestic rhythms while preserving privacy, individuality, and a shared sense of order. The architectural response is both robust and finely tuned, using strong vertical planes, layered planting, and controlled openings to create a home that feels at once protected, open, and deeply composed.

The site’s century-old trees are central to this idea. Rather than being treated as picturesque remnants, they help define the spatial character of the project and organise the relationship between built form and open ground. The architecture is arranged around this existing landscape, allowing the residence to draw calm, shade, and environmental value from its greenery while also screening itself from the intensity of Mathura Road. This dual condition, openness to nature and protection from the city, gives the home much of its distinctive atmosphere.

Architecturally, the project derives its identity from a careful play of opposites: vertical solidity set against cascading gardens, enclosure set against porosity, and the collective life of a large family set against the need for retreat. These tensions are resolved with considerable restraint, so that the home never feels overdetermined despite the complexity of its brief. What emerges is a residence of unusual assurance, where multigenerational living is articulated through proportion, privacy, and a strong sense of rootedness within both family and site.