Monsoon Chawl Courtyard

Monsoon Chawl Courtyard is an original illustration set in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India. It lies in the tropics, where the climate is tropical monsoon — a short drier season inside a wet year.

Continuous open galleries run along every upper floor, with repeating single-room door and window bays behind simple railings. Shared external staircases stand at the courtyard corners. Corrugated sheeting patches the roofline, and rain is falling steadily.

Why does every room open onto one shared gallery?

One room per household opening onto a shared gallery is a plan built for density, and the gallery does the work a corridor would: access, ventilation, drying space and social life at once. Open circulation is only viable where it never gets cold. The heavy rain is not incidental — this is a coast that receives most of its year's water in a few intense monsoon months.

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