artLIVE – The Bridge House, designed by Wallmakers, the architectural group led by Vinu Daniel, is located in Karjat, Maharashtra, India.
Amid the dense forests of Karjat, Maharashtra (India), where a monsoon stream cuts deep into the ground, creating a narrow, steep, and rugged gorge, there stands a house spanning between two banks of the ravine, appearing as if it is floating in midair. People call it The Bridge House.
The project sits on a plot of land divided by a TATA spillway stream, which has carved out a gorge approximately 7 meters deep, with a width of ~100 feet (about 30 meters). Because of this, traditional foundations could not be placed in the central area of the site.
Instead of leveling, filling, or constructing retaining walls, the gorge was left exactly as it is. Then, a bold idea emerged: the house would become a bridge—not a bridge merely to cross, but to live in, to inhabit, to feel the breath of the forest, the wind, and the water.
The story begins with an uneven piece of land
The difficult terrain of the site made it impossible to place the building’s foundation within the 100-foot span of the stream bed. Faced with this challenge, architect Vinu Daniel and the Wallmakers team conceived the idea of allowing the house to rest in midair. From there, the house was constructed between the two riverbanks, like a bridge that can be lived in.
Unlike monumental architectural structures that impose themselves on the landscape, Bridge House places four main supports neatly at both ends of the site, preserving the existing trees and the stream below. Its main structural system is formed from four hyperbolic parabolic shells, acting as a balanced system between tension and compression, making the structure stable yet light, as if floating. The four hyperbolic parabolic shells are created from a network of tension cables and steel tubes, combined with a compressed straw–mud shell. Seen from afar, the house appears like a soft curving shell draped across the forest.
A thatched shell inspired by pangolin scales
The surface of Bridge House is covered with thatch arranged in small overlapping layers like pangolin scales. This layer is not only aesthetic but also acts as a passive bioclimatic system. It naturally insulates the interior, keeps the air cool, enables cross-ventilation, and reduces energy demand. When it rains, water slides gently across the layers like flowing over the body of a living creature.
An organic interior made from reclaimed ship wood
Stepping inside, Bridge House feels like a living artwork. Light is drawn in through a circular skylight (oculus) located at the center of the house. As natural light moves throughout the day, glowing round reflections spread across surfaces of reclaimed wood and jute fibers, creating a rhythmic dance of shadow and illumination. Inside the shell are recycled ship-deck wood, raw jute fiber, compressed mud walls, and taut steel elements.
Four bedrooms are oriented toward either the deep green forest canopy or the flowing stream directly below. Simply opening a window allows the sounds of water and rustling leaves to enter, as if nature is always present, weaving into every smallest corner of the home—the very essence the design team intended.
If one were to live, or even simply spend a night in a place like Bridge House, the first sensation might be a shift in breathing rhythm. The constant sound of water, wind passing through thatched roofing, and occasionally the brush of dry leaves against a wall—all subtle, yet continuous—begin to replace the noise and hurried pace of urban life. In such a moment, the occupant seems to be released from everyday restlessness, burdens, and concerns.
Project Information
Name: The Bridge House
Location: Karjat, Maharashtra, India
Architect: Wallmakers (Vinu Daniel)
Area: ~419m²
Completion: 2025
Materials: thatch, steel, earth, reclaimed wood, jute
Photography: Studio IKSHA
References: designboom, archdaily
