I had the privilege of working with Corbusier for more than six years between 1951 and '57. During this period when he was working on Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, I had the chance of knowing how he was solving the problem of the Indian climate and the use of local materials. When I designed my first house in 1960, having learned from him the use of space, form and light, I went little further and tried to develop a plan for a house for a cooperative society. This house belonged to me but there were other houses being built at the same time and I realised that if we could find a solution which had all the qualities which Corbusier talked about but gave more space, volume, light and ventilation, perhaps the house would be even more useful.

I attempted in the plan to create a flexible space which went from external areas to the internal, such as living space related to the gardens, dining area related to living areas, and even the bedrooms as multipurpose rooms. In order to achieve this, I developed a structure which had four columns in the middle and the other brick columns outside. The in-between filler walls were made in brick as hollow walls so that they could insulate the house from the heat. If one looked at the section, we could realise that there are some thin overhangs which reduce the external height of the brick wall, allowing indirect light into the rooms, which created a basement-like effect.