Biophilic House Design in India: Villa Prakriti by unTAG

Embracing Nature in the Sahyadris

Villa Prakriti, designed by unTAG, is a profound example of biophilic house design in India, nestled in the lush landscape of Igatpuri, Maharashtra. Cradled by the Sahyadri mountains, the 4,500-square-foot residence does not just sit within nature—it breathes with it. Named after the Sanskrit word for “nature,” the villa is a sensory and spatial dialogue between architecture and the living forest around it.

Rooted in Terrain, Not Over It

Rather than terraforming the landscape into submission, the villa respects the natural contours of the site. The home gently navigates the terrain, embracing a minimal cut-and-fill approach. This approach enables architecture to participate in the landscape’s rhythm, allowing the structure to grow with the land, not against it.

The spatial planning stems from a single mango tree—the sacred and symbolic axis mundi. Around this tree, two wings unfold: one public, one private. The result is a central courtyard — the “mango court” — that links functions and generations. The home is accessed via a winding staircase through a dense tropical thicket, a spatial prelude to the immersive natural experience ahead.

Living Spaces That Listen

The living area acts as a threshold between two contrasting landscapes. A south-facing verandah frames the distant Sahyadris and opens to a trapezoidal infinity pool. Inside, natural materials continue the organic narrative. A built-in planter bed, elliptical skylight, and terracotta hues invite tactile, visual, and even olfactory connection to nature. An internal spiral staircase, wrapped in greenery, leads to the upper bedroom, while other bedrooms are tiered across outdoor stairs and interspersed with vegetation.

Passive Design with Local Intelligence

In response to the local climate, biophilic house design in India often relies on passive design strategies—and Villa Prakriti excels in this regard. Sloping clay tile roofs, deep verandahs, brick jaalis, and open balconies filter light, reduce solar gain, and optimize cross ventilation. The building breathes with its environment, using materials like local bricks and Shahabad stone to ensure thermal comfort while embedding contextual identity.

Indoor spaces remain minimal and honest. A white-washed base shell plays host to regional textures—wood, clay, woven lights—that evoke vernacular charm without excess. It’s a design language that is both elemental and evocative, enhancing the lived experience through authenticity rather than decoration.

Material Ecology and Spiritual Continuity

Materials used in Villa Prakriti aren’t merely selected for aesthetics but for their ecological and cultural resonance. Brick provides mass and tactility. Shahabad stone connects the home to its geology. Bamboo pergolas, clay tile roofing, and native landscaping echo age-old practices. Together, these decisions allow the building to slip quietly into the land, rather than standing apart.

More than just a structure, the villa becomes a living organism—adaptive, evolving, and inseparable from the landscape. The blurred thresholds between indoor and outdoor create a continuum where walls dissolve and light dances freely.

Architecture That Invites Rewilding

Every decision at Villa Prakriti is a gesture toward regeneration—of landscape, climate, and memory. It is a house that invites the forest to return. The boundary between architecture and ecology disappears in favor of something far more resilient and sacred: coexistence.

This is not simply a farmhouse in the Sahyadris—it is a philosophy in brick, stone, and wood. A grounded vision for biophilic house design in India that serves as a blueprint for sustainable living rooted in place, people, and planet.

All the photographs are works of Pranit Bora