Architecture case studies usually show the finished building and describe the design intent. The constraints, trade-offs, and difficult decisions are smoothed over or omitted. This note does something different. It documents the real story behind RTC SPIPA, Mehsana—a government training institute we designed under significant constraints—and what the building has taught us since occupation. Constraints, decisions, outcomes: this is how…
Most architecture stops at handover. The building is complete, the photographs are taken, the project is published—and the architect moves on. But handover is not the end. It is the beginning of the building’s real life: occupied, used, tested by climate and time. This note is about post-occupancy evidence—what buildings actually teach architects after people move in, and why this…
Every May, the same complaints return: the house is unbearably hot, the AC runs all day, the electricity bills are crushing, the west-facing rooms are unusable. These are not Acts of God. They are consequences of design decisions—decisions that were made, or not made, when the building was planned. This note explains why most homes in Gujarat overheat and how…
In Ahmedabad, the single biggest design decision for any home is orientation. Get it right, and the house stays comfortable for decades with modest energy use. Get it wrong, and you are negotiating with the sun for the life of the building—paying in electricity bills, in discomfort, in rooms that cannot be used in summer afternoons. This note explains how…
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