Injambakkam Beach Retreat

Right on the coast south of the city, where the sand shifts more from one visit to the next than the client had expected, and the monsoon doesn't so much fall as arrive sideways. An early site visit in October made the brief for us: anything built here had to actually be designed for that weather, not just tolerate it.

We lifted the house onto a plinth well clear of storm surge, angled the roofline to shed wind-driven rain instead of taking it head-on, and planted the ground level in salt-tolerant vetiver rather than the lawn the client had originally pictured. It has been through two full monsoons now without the landscaping needing to be redone, which on this stretch of coast is not a small thing.