In dense urban environments, where the cost of land comes at a premium, the row house has been a prevailing building type for at least a few centuries.

 For a new row house in New Delhi, Indian architecture firm Studio Lotus designed a clever way around the lighting problem. Working within a row house lot in the Panchsheel Enclave (in the southern part of the city), the architects configured a new row house as two distinct housing units—front and back—linked by a central atrium. This atrium brings daylight deep into the otherwise constrained building footprint.

 This configuration carries other advantages, too, allowing the building to better manage what can be an intense climate. Set in a city where average high temperatures exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit more than half the year, the house does not include air conditioning. The atrium, however, helps to render the interior spaces comfortable. Not only does it increase possibilities to generate cross-ventilation, it also acts as a chimney, drawing hot air up and out of the house itself. For most of the year, cooling breezes waft through its rooms.

[Source:https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/this-new-delhi-rowhouse-revolutionizes-centuries-old-design]

Architectural design changes people's lives. The journal Architecture and Design Review is an international Open Access journal that publishes articles related to all areas of architecture and design. The scope includes architectural technologies, sustainable architecture, building design, architectural design, facilities design, architectural theory and practices, education, interior design, urban design and urban planning.

For more information, please visit: http://ojs.piscomed.com/index.php/ADR