Centre For Vernacular Architecture

The office is tucked away at 33/1 in Maruthi Seva Nagar. It’s a quiet enough place where we spend our days thinking about how to build things that make sense for this climate. We don't really go for those glass and steel boxes you see everywhere else. Instead, there are usually samples of baked earth tiles or different types of timber leaning against the walls. The shelves are packed with books on old building techniques that most people have forgotten about. It gets a little dusty sometimes because we are always looking at materials and samples that come in from different sites. We aren't a big operation, just a handful of people who prefer working with our hands when we can. If you walk in, you’ll probably see someone sketching on a large table or discussing how a particular roof joint should fit together. We don't spend much on decorations because the work itself takes up all the room. Maruthi Seva Nagar has changed a lot since we started, but our corner stays pretty much the same. We take our time with things here. It's not about rushing to finish; it's about making sure the wood is seasoned right or the bricks are laid properly. Sometimes we just sit and talk about the old houses we've seen. It’s a simple way to spend the workday, focusing on basics that have worked for hundreds of years and will probably still work long after we are gone.