Ethiraj Lane

Can we create communities out of random people living together in an apartment?

If 'palace' can be a typology - a single identity representing multiple families living together as a collective. This typology is our strategy for Ethiraj Lane where people living in each apartment feel the sense of living as a part of large house as a collective. Create communities out of random families living together keeping their identity and sharing it to be part of a larger community.

These were the ambitions we set out for this site in Egmore. A site flanked on all 3 sides by streets. Our response was a housing block with 6 apartment types put together to form this porous volume made of a variety of open and closed edge conditions as Courts, Double-height Outdoor terraces, Covered decks and Balconies. These conditions were adapted for various sun angles and shadow paths and they define the ‘threshold’ that holds the relationship with the city.