On a narrow site with minimal frontage to the Bay of Bengal on the Coromandel Coast north of the ex-French colonial town of Pondicherry; hemmed in on 3 sides by random unplanned structures the challenge was to create a 5 bedroom beach house that would be a “retreat to peace and tranquillity”.

The design follows the natural slope of the land with no cut and fills respecting the coastal dune formation and regulations with the built form scooping out small open to sky inner courts connected by a transparent walkway from the west entry to the east terraces overlooking the bay. Each space opens to these screened courts allowing visual privacy from the invasive developments around site.

The walls are exposed bricks in local brick tiles and the intermediate floors are all jack arches in the same bricks. The roof is concrete and thatch for heat insulation. The terraces and verandas are overlooking the sea and courts.