Can Brutalist architecture house embrace nature so closely that it feels like the trees have shaped it? Studio Saransh’s MS House in Ahmedabad offers a bold answer. The design of the house begins with a simple promise: to preserve the site’s nine mature neem trees at all costs. The result is a concrete structure that bends to nature’s will, influencing every decision, from spatial layout to the architectural form and material palette, in the process.
This Brutalist Architecture House Embraces Nature | Studio Saransh
This sensitivity to context and environment is a hallmark of Studio Saransh’s design ethos, which emphasises functional elegance with an impactful design language.
The influence of nature is evident from the moment one approaches the site. The boundary wall winds around a tree trunk to preserve its growth, and a downward-curving branch near the entrance lobby reinforces this connection.
A dramatic entrance corridor with square punctures in the wall leads the visitors into the home. These carefully positioned openings transform an otherwise austere passage into a dynamic space, where dappled sunlight casts ever-changing patterns across the flooring and walls, while offering glimpses of the lush greenery beyond.
“The central bay is more than just a design element, it is the soul of the house”, explains Malay Doshi, the principal architect at Studio Saransh. It anchors two wings: the front housing the living room, verandah and garden; the other accommodating the guest room, the kitchen and ancillary spaces.
It forms an ideal backdrop for the dining ensemble, a custom-order wooden table by TDW with the rosewood detailing mirroring the linearity of the concrete and kota pattern, and teak and wicker chairs from Mistry at Finest, paired with a single-point suspension parametric lamp designed in collaboration with Andlabs.
Sustainability is integral to MS House. Beyond mere preservation of the trees, the house takes advantage of its orientation to maximize natural light and ventilation. Heat gain is reduced through a combination of laminated double glazing, deep shaded openings and cavity walls.
“Every element of this house is shaped by the site’s natural context and the family’s needs. Further, embodying our belief that a good design must seamlessly integrate function, individuality, and environment,” adds Kaveesha Shah, the principal interior designer at Studio Saransh.
The living room is designed to function as two clusters of seating, one with a custom sectional sofa set and an iconic Eames chair with the Arco lamp from Flos bringing the space together. While the second more formal furniture setup featuring custom designed fabric lamps and an abstract art rug from Jaipur Rugs.
The living room incorporates smooth-polished plywood cast concrete surfaces and ethically sourced Valsadi teak panelling, with ribbon windows framing the views of the foliage outside.
A serene water feature near the entrance provides a gentle acoustic backdrop while reflecting fragments of sky and foliage. On the terrace, creepers are planted strategically along the parapet. An intentional gesture that will, over time, allow the greenery to spill over the building’s sharp concrete geometries.
MS House is a testament to how a design can build on Ahmedabad’s architectural tradition while embracing and celebrating nature at the same time. Its exterior, with bold geometries softened by foliage, illustrates how a Brutalist architecture house, often associated with rigidity, can bend gracefully to the rhythms of nature.
The Brutalist aesthetic manifests strongly in the house’s exterior, where bold geometries of the concrete facade disappear quietly within the green foliage. Square punctures within the facade, and deep chamfered window sills further maximise this effect, whilst allowing diffused light to cast playful shadows.
The solar-powered roof of the gazebo enables the house to run on solar energy, meeting 70-80% of its needs, while lime plastered walls eliminate the need for plastic-based paints, ensuring the house remains as eco-friendly as possible. Additionally, the design emphasises the resourceful use of materials, with leftover timber repurposed into custom tables and marble remnants into a console in the drawing room, ensuring minimal construction waste.
The facade, enveloped in wooden-strip textured concrete, subtly mirrors the textures of the trees, softening the structure’s visual presence while enhancing its tactile appeal. However, beneath its raw concrete geometries, MS house quietly reveals its most significant achievement: a Brutalist house crafted into a home, by a multidisciplinary team of architects and interior designers.
“The level of curated customisation inside and out, from details in the concrete and landscape, to the smallest interior junctions bringing together a medley of materials, reflects a seamless collaboration between our team of architects and interior designers,” says Kaveesha.
Inside, the material palette is deliberately restrained yet thoughtful, with concrete and lime plastered walls and grey Kota flooring creating a cohesive design that ties the home’s interior and exterior together. The kota flooring in a leather finish extends the concrete plank pattern to the floor of the central bay, making it feel like the “outside”. In spaces with ply cast concrete, the kota is laid in a seamless polished finish.
On the upper floor, the central bay transitions into a study area overlooking the dining space below. Each space establishes its own relationship with the trees outside. The master bedroom, for instance, positioned directly above the living room, opens to a shaded balcony overlooking the trees, while the daughter’s bedrooms occupy the quieter rear wing with the views of the backyard.
The bedrooms reflect distinct personalities of their occupants while maintaining an intimate connection to nature. The master bedroom, in ply cast concrete surfaces and kota flooring with terrazzo detailing, features a custom four-poster bed with stone pedestals and wooden posts.
The daughters’ rooms maintain their distinct personalities, one embracing graphite tones, the other featuring sage green walls and green marble-infused terrazzo flooring. This colour palette extends into their respective ensuite bathrooms. The guest bedroom, designed for elderly parents, offers a calm retreat with natural tones and minimal detailing.
Consequently, “beyond its design expression,” emphasises Malay, “MS House shows what it takes to turn a ‘Brutalist House a Home’.
The bathrooms become a design narrative of their own, with thoughtfully curated details. The master ensuite is bathed in natural light from two skylights: a circular one above the sink and a square one hidden in the shower. The black powder room on the terrace features full-height glazing. Further, overlooks an array of Champa trees, creating an illusion of a private courtyard.
The second floor serves as a social terrace with a family lounge, bar, and powder room. Further, creating an inviting space for gatherings above the neem canopies under the open sky.
The landscape scheme further dissolves the boundaries between nature and architecture. Beyond the preserved neem trees, a careful curation of tropical and local plant species adds layers to the green foliage.
Every decision, every element, is a careful act of transformation, perfectly summarising the practice’s belief that ‘architectural traditions must evolve with time, embrace the natural world while staying true to their underlying principles.
Fact File
Designed by: Studio Saransh
Project Type: Residential Architecture Design
Project Name: MS House
Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Year Built: 2024
Built-up Area: 6512 Sq.ft
Design Lead: Malay Doshi, Kaveesha Shah
Team Design Credits: Shal Gohel & Anamica Gupta
Photograph Courtesy: Ishita Sitwala
Structure: Sakshham Consultants
MEP: Ravi Engineering
Parametric Consultant: andLabs
Horticulturist: Shwetal Bhavsar
Source: Archdaily
Firm’s Website Link: Studio Saransh
Firm’s Instagram Link: Studio Saransh
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