Sanjay Puri Architects - Cielo - Nagpur - India

2026-02-02

Cielo is a compact residential building in Nagpur city, Maharashtra India. On a relatively small site of 900 sq.m., a total buildable area of 3600 sq.m. is built based upon the prevalent rules and client requirements. The mandatory open spaces on all sides generate a buildable area of only 270 sq.m. at each floor.

A single 3-bedroom apartment is planned at each floor in this 12 storey building. The 3 bedrooms are located on three corners, with the kitchen forming the fourth corner to facilitate cross ventilation in each room. The living spaces are centrally located to form the focal social interaction space.

Nagpur forms the geographical center of India, with extensive summers and temperatures in excess of 40°C for 8 months annually. Being cognizant of that climate, each of the main rooms opens into two balcony spaces, one open and one screened. This helps to reduce heat gain substantially, simultaneously providing sheltered open spaces to each room.

The screened bays are designed as sectional curves, forming a screen at the lower level and curving outwards to form a balcony at the upper level. These sectionally curved screens alternate horizontally and vertically across the building, providing protection from heat, forming green open spaces for each room, and lending a sculptural quality to the building. These screens allude to the architectural heritage of the region where screens have existed since the 17th century.

Cielo is designed to create naturally cross ventilated spaces that are sheathed in response to the climate. The lifecycle carbon footprint is reduced substantially by a design that includes an entire solar panel roof and water harvesting and recycling, as well as a screened envelope to mitigate heat gain and reduce air-conditioning costs.

About Sanjay Puri Architects

Sanjay Puri Architects have been ranked #32 in Archello Amsterdam’s list of the Top 100 Architects worldwide. Archdaily, Architizer, New York & WA UK include the firm in their lists of the Top 100 architects in the world. Sanjay Puri Architects have won over 540 awards, including 400 international architecture awards. The firm won the world building of the year 2024 from World Architects Switzerland, the Most Sustainable Architecture Firm of the Year by Architizer New York, and Practice of the Year by A&D Perspective Hong Kong.

Sanjay has been on the juries of the World Architecture Festival, Plan Awards Italy, Architecture Review Awards UK, Dezeen UK, Architizer New York, INDE Awards, Australia, Inscape Awards South Africa, and The Architecture Hunter Awards Canada. The firm’s work has been published over 2000 times in more than 200 publications across the world. The firm currently has a team of 108 professionals involved in over 200 projects in 55 cities.

Evolving design solutions that are contextual and sustainable, with architecture that explores spatial perceptions of innovative explorations, forms the essence of the firm’s philosophy.

Photo credit: Mr. Vinay Panjawani