Tara House, a residential building designed by Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai in India, integrates nature through a central garden and pond, emphasizing sustainability and local craftsmanship. Nestled between a wildlife sanctuary and the Arabian Sea, the house includes a stone-lined chamber with a tidally influenced pool. Jain’s architectural approach focuses on using local materials and traditional methods, creating structures that deeply inhabit their environments. Since its establishment in 1995, Studio Mumbai has gained recognition for elevating craft skills and promoting sustainable architectural practices.
At the center of Tara House—a wood-framed compound situated between a tropical wildlife sanctuary and the Arabian Sea—lies a verdant garden surrounding an azure pond. Tall palm trees and slender, vertical wooden slats soften the intense Indian sun.
Despite the tranquil garden space, the heart of the home, referred to as the “belly button,” is located below, down a shadowed stairway. A stone-lined chamber encloses a tidally influenced pool, with rings of light dancing upon the water through air holes in the garden above.
With the sound of the ocean beyond and the pulse of the aquifer below, this cavern serves as a powerful reminder that, like our bodies, our livelihoods depend on water. An estimated half of all Indians lack plumbing.
“You develop a relationship via sight, smell, and condition, which in turn becomes a way of caring,” – says Bijoy Jain, the architect of the compound and founder of Studio Mumbai.
Jain, trained in the US, spent the early years of his career in Los Angeles and London. Reflecting on those years, he recalls a time of personal growth, seeing possibilities that were beyond his ability to realize at the time.
Returning to India to practice architecture, Jain found he needed a better way to communicate with local stone masons and carpenters, who often could not read architectural plans. This led to the creation of large-scale mockups, fostering an inclusive and collaborative design-build process.
“That’s why our studio was initiated,” Jain explains. “There will always be limitations; the question is how does one find the space to operate within them.”
Studio Mumbai, established in 1995, quickly gained attention, receiving the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture from L’Institut Francais D’Architecture in 2009 and the BSI Swiss Architectural Award in 2012. Noted Swiss architect Mario Botta praised Studio Mumbai’s elevation of craft skills amidst globalization’s standardizing forces.
Jain’s commitment to sustainability is evident in his use of local materials. For instance, Palmyra House was constructed using traditional building methods and locally sourced materials, from the foundation’s stone and sand to the wood joinery and Palmyra louvers that filter light and allow air circulation.
The palmyra palm, a significant tree in India, has numerous uses, including providing fruit, medicine, weaving, and writing materials, as well as sturdy trunks for construction. The house was built on a coconut plantation in a way that preserved income- and shade-generating trees. While Western architects often struggle to bring light into a building, Jain’s challenge is frequently to reduce it.
Jain’s design ethos involves creating structures that deeply inhabit their surroundings, reflecting his belief that humans exist within the matrix of nature rather than entering a space from outside of it.
“When I’m referring to nature, I’m referring to man and nature as being reversible or part of the same entity,” he says. “It’s very personal.”
Jain has told the Wall Street Journal that architecture must be ethical and display empathy. He believes each individual must discover their own “unit of measure,” encompassing both technical and emotional aspects. This measure involves setting frames within which one can operate, carefully adjusted as part of a way of life.
Italian architect Nicola Scardigno, writing in the Arts journal, noted that “traditional architecture was already sustainable” and argued that terms like zero-energy development, bioclimatic architecture, eco-buildings, and low carbon footprint cannot alone solve the environmental agreement between man and nature.
Jain’s approach to architecture emphasizes the need to “contain life,” recognizing that landscapes and people change. His work achieves functionality and deep, reverential beauty, reflecting the philosophy that good design must serve the “humble everyday needs” of people, as Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy noted.
Conversations continue how sustainable design and construction in the West can serve those with limited means. Jain, however, focuses on the work itself, stating, “The only thing one can do is do the work. Whether the change occurs or not is not in one’s hands. One does the work just because it needs to be done.”
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