This proposal for a location in inner New Delhi places six super-luxury villas on a single site within a medium density urban context. The site is surrounded by apartment buildings and hosts mature Banyan trees, most of which are required to be retained by the brief.

The main entry into the site is marked by a water wall and residents’ clubhouse flanking the security controlled gateway. The villas are accessed via a sinuous landscaped driveway that winds through the the site and is punctuated by reflective ponds, garden beds and water sculptures.

The 2-storey villas are reflected in the landscaped grounds by surrounding sheets of water that touch their external walls. The serenity of the water is contrasted by the energetic forms of the villas, which share a common language but assert their own personality through variations in layout, finishes and other features.

The villas are designed to be energy efficient and incorporate an exhaustive range of environmentally sustainable design (ESD) features, their forms responding to the site’s orientation and filtering light through their external facades and into central courtyards. ESD features include rain water and grey water harvesting, sun screens and other shading devices, rooftop thermal mass garden, a range of insulation measures including reflective coatings on the rooftop and double glazing, cross flow natural ventilation, solar hot water system and the use of environmentally- preferred materials.