brick chambers and cavernous passages shape this ‘anthill’ house in india

brick chambers rise from the dry landscape of ahilyanagar, india

In Ahilyanagar, India, a brick house dubbed The Anthill is designed by Kaushal Tatiya Architects as a low, terrain-like mass with an undulating facade. Called The Anthill, the house draws from the structure of insect-built mounds, translating their chambers, passages, vents, and thermal intelligence into a residential project shaped for heat, movement, and shade.

Designed by lead architects Kaushal Suresh Tatiya and Sweety Muttha, the 7,000-square-foot bungalow responds to a brief for a house in a hot and dry climate. The project is built around passive cooling, cross ventilation, and a reduced dependence on mechanical systems, using brick as both structure and environmental device.

Its mass feels introverted from the outside, with solid walls and perforated surfaces holding back the glare, while the interior opens through courtyards, skylights, and shaded transitions.

images © Avesh Gaur

kaushal tatiya architects looks to the anthill

Designing the house, the team at India-based Kaushal Tatiya Architects takes the anthill as a model for spatial organization as much as form. The house is planned as a series of interconnected chambers, where rooms branch from larger communal volumes and circulation shifts through compressed passages and more open gathering spaces.

Movement through the house becomes part of the architecture, shaped by changing ceiling heights, filtered light, and the slow reveal of courtyards within the brick enclosure. At the living area, an extended courtyard brings light and air into the plan, while a water cascade adds passive cooling to the central space.

Brick jalis — perforated walls — skylights, and ventilation shafts draw air through the house, creating a stack effect that helps regulate temperature through section rather than machinery. The same porous logic shapes the facade, where perforations temper the sun and bring patterned light into the interior.

The Anthill takes shape in Ahilyanagar, India as an undulating brick bungalow

exposed brick shapes a thermal shell

Across the house, material choices stay close to the earth. Exposed brick defines the main architectural language, joined by textured concrete, terracotta, lime plaster, locally sourced stone, and wooden furniture. The surfaces are tactile and dense, with the brickwork giving the bungalow a sense of mass while also allowing it to breathe through small openings and layered cavities.

The architects use the material as insulation and atmosphere at once. Light enters through punctured skylights, courtyards, and perforated facades, creating bright pockets inside the heavier shell. In the bedrooms, two types of openings shape the relationship to the outside: smaller windows support cross ventilation, while balconies extend the rooms toward distant views of the surrounding landscape.

Kaushal Tatiya Architects designs the residence for Maharashtra’s hot and dry climate

a house formed through climate and movement

The Anthill gains its identity through texture, shadow, and a close relationship with the ground. Its mound-like form is partially shaped by stepped terraces and alternating balconies, which recall the traditional idea of chhats while giving the house shaded edges and outdoor thresholds. A 12-foot cantilevered slab, supported through brick in compression, adds a heavier architectural gesture to the otherwise terrain-like composition.

In a region defined by its heat and intense sunlight, the project reads as an exploration of how a house can borrow from natural systems without becoming literal. Kaushal Tatiya Architects uses the anthill as a way to think through comfort, privacy, and ventilation.

exposed brick walls form a heavy shell that filters sun and heat