A-300Ahmedabad · since 2014

Eleven people, one detail library, and a lot of site visits.

We are an architecture practice that draws in order to build, not in order to publish. The office is above a hardware shop in Navrangpura, which is convenient.

What we believe, briefly

A building is a set of decisions that someone will have to live with, repair, and eventually change. Our job is to make those decisions legible — in the drawing, in the joint, and in the wall that anyone can read from across the street.

We do not render buildings to sell them. We build one wall at full size and ask the client to put a hand on it.

Founded
2014, Ahmedabad
People
Eleven, plus two on site
Completed
34 projects
Working in
Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu
Smallest built
A 22 m² well house, Bhuj
Longest running
Stepwell Library, since 2021
A-310Detail library · index

Every detail we have ever built, filed and numbered.

A detail enters the library only after it has been built and stood through one monsoon. Nothing goes into a drawing set that is not in here, which is why our sets get faster and our walls do not.

Brick sill, weathered 1:12D-014Cavity tray at the lintelD-061Teak jamb, 60 × 120D-088Stone plinth to lime renderD-142Sawtooth glazing barD-203IPS floor to wall junctionD-287340 sheets · started 2014 · every one built at least once

Drag the drawing sideways

In the studio

  • Ira Menon

    Founding principal

    Founded the practice after eight years detailing masonry in Kachchh. Teaches a construction studio at CEPT and marks every drawing set before it is issued.

    In the studio since 2014

  • Devang Shah

    Associate, project architect

    Runs Stepwell Library and Kiln House. Keeps the detail library, which is now 340 sheets, and refuses to add one until it has been built.

    In the studio since 2016

  • Nikita Bose

    Associate, project architect

    Works with cooperatives and housing clients. Led Loom Works through four construction phases without stopping a single loom.

    In the studio since 2018

  • Meera Iyer

    Site delivery

    Was a site engineer for eleven years before this. Signs off every mock-up, and has sent three back this year.

    In the studio since 2020

The week is the same every week, and that is the point.

  1. Monday

    Site. Whoever is running a job is on it before ten, with a red pen.

  2. Tuesday

    Drawing. No meetings, no calls, no site visits. The office is quiet by agreement.

  3. Wednesday

    Clients. Every review happens on this day, at the table, on paper.

  4. Thursday

    Drawing, and filing. New details get a number and go into the library.

  5. Friday

    Mock-ups, suppliers, and a walk-round of whatever finished that week.

We take on four to six projects a year, and turn down the rest.

What we take on

  • Houses for people who will live in them.
  • Public and institutional buildings, competition or direct.
  • Work for cooperatives and trusts, at a fee we can afford to charge.
  • Repairs and additions to buildings we did not design.

What we turn down

  • Anything that has to start this month.
  • Speculative housing sold on a render.
  • Projects where the contractor is already appointed and priced.
  • Work more than a day's drive from a railway station.

Two are usually houses, one is public or institutional, and one is work for a cooperative or trust. If your project needs to start this month, we are the wrong office.