Expressway Residence, Delhi

Some sites come with history already built into them. This one did — an existing outhouse designed by the late Satish Gujral, in his signature exposed-brick style, originally built as a family's vacation retreat on their 3-acre Delhi property. As the family grew, the outhouse stayed exactly as capable as it always was — just too small to be a full-time residence anymore.

The brief wasn't to replace Gujral's work. It was to extend it, without diminishing it. The solution was a 10,000 sq ft addition in metal and prefabricated construction, connected to the original structure via skybridges — an extension arm rather than a replacement, deliberately built in a different material language from the brick original.

That contrast was the point. Gujral's building sits solid and grounded, an earthbound, masonry embrace. The new extension does the opposite — lightweight, prefabricated components assembled on-site as a precise kit of parts, with elements that read as if they're hovering rather than resting on the ground. Off-site fabrication meant faster, more controlled construction without sacrificing finish quality — a practical answer to building alongside a heritage structure without disrupting it for longer than necessary.

Rather than competing with Gujral's original design, the extension keeps a deliberate distance from it — present, contemporary, and confident in its own material language, while still visibly in conversation with the brick structure it grows from.

This residential extension project in Delhi isn't a renovation in the usual sense. It's closer to a second chapter — proof that a respected piece of architecture doesn't need to be preserved in isolation to be honored. It can keep growing, in a new material, for a new generation of the same family.