Eleven people, one detail library, and a lot of site visits.
We are an architectural design firm in Lucknow, making bespoke and functional spaces for over ten years. We draw in order to build, not in order to publish, and we stay with each client from the first sketch to the last site visit.
What we believe, briefly
A building is a set of decisions that someone will have to live with, repair, and eventually change. Our job is to make those decisions legible — in the drawing, in the joint, and in the wall that anyone can read from across the street.
We do not render buildings to sell them. We build one wall at full size and ask the client to put a hand on it.
- Practising
- Over 10 years, Lucknow
- People
- Eleven, plus two on site
- Completed
- 34 projects
- Working in
- Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
- Smallest built
- A 22 m² well house, Bhuj
- Longest running
- Stepwell Library, since 2021
Every detail we have ever built, filed and numbered.
A detail enters the library only after it has been built and stood through one monsoon. Nothing goes into a drawing set that is not in here, which is why our sets get faster and our walls do not.
Sheets filed each year · 2026 so far · 340 in all
- 1Brick sill, weathered 1:12D-014 · filed 2015
- 2Cavity tray at the lintelD-061 · filed 2018
- 3Teak jamb, 60 × 120D-088 · filed 2019
- 4Stone plinth to lime renderD-142 · filed 2021
- 5Sawtooth glazing barD-203 · filed 2023
- 6IPS floor to wall junctionD-287 · filed 2025
In the studio
Ira Menon
Founding principal
Founded the practice after eight years detailing masonry in Kachchh. Teaches a construction studio at CEPT and marks every drawing set before it is issued.
In the studio since 2014
Devang Shah
Associate, project architect
Runs Stepwell Library and Kiln House. Keeps the detail library, which is now 340 sheets, and refuses to add one until it has been built.
In the studio since 2016
Nikita Bose
Associate, project architect
Works with cooperatives and housing clients. Led Loom Works through four construction phases without stopping a single loom.
In the studio since 2018
Meera Iyer
Site delivery
Was a site engineer for eleven years before this. Signs off every mock-up, and has sent three back this year.
In the studio since 2020
The week is the same every week, and that is the point.
- Monday
Site. Whoever is running a job is on it before ten, with a red pen.
- Tuesday
Drawing. No meetings, no calls, no site visits. The office is quiet by agreement.
- Wednesday
Clients. Every review happens on this day, at the table, on paper.
- Thursday
Drawing, and filing. New details get a number and go into the library.
- Friday
Mock-ups, suppliers, and a walk-round of whatever finished that week.
We take on four to six projects a year, and turn down the rest.
What we take on
- Houses for people who will live in them.
- Public and institutional buildings, competition or direct.
- Work for cooperatives and trusts, at a fee we can afford to charge.
- Repairs and additions to buildings we did not design.
What we turn down
- Anything that has to start this month.
- Speculative housing sold on a render.
- Projects where the contractor is already appointed and priced.
- Work more than a day's drive from a railway station.
Two are usually houses, one is public or institutional, and one is work for a cooperative or trust. If your project needs to start this month, we are the wrong office.