matharoo associates builds 'cut bend fold play house' from folded concrete planes in india

a concrete dwelling on a narrow plot

Cut Bend Fold Play House by Matharoo Associates stands within the dense urban fabric of Chennai, India, designed for a businessperson, his wife, and their three daughters. Set on a narrow plot that opens only at a single corner onto a cul-de-sac, the concrete dwelling addresses heavy adjacency on three sides and the presence of a tall apartment block along its longer edge.

The home‘s design is driven by the desire for privacy, sunlight, and natural ventilation, along with the client’s requirements that prescribe fixed orientations for rooms, entrances, and daily routines.

the house occupies a narrow corner site within dense urban Chennai | image © Edmund Sumner

a concrete plane wraps the ‘Cut Fold Bend Play House’

The Matharoo Associates-designed Cut Fold Bend Play House occupies three edges of the residential plot. The architects note that this site extends usable area while absorbing residual margins into the interiors. A continuous concrete plane wraps the perimeter and forms a dense outer shell to buffer the house from its surroundings. The shell further establishes a singular, monolithic presence within the street.

Crossing the threshold alters this reading. The concrete plane shifts inward and opens toward a hollowed interior, where space deepens and daylight enters from above and within. This transition marks a clear separation between the compressed urban exterior and the inward-facing living areas.

a continuous concrete shell extends wall to wall along three edges | image © Bharath Ramamrutham

Matharoo Associates’ carved Courtyards

Drawing from the typology of the Indian courtyard, Matharoo Associates carves a series of voids into the mass of the house. The largest court occupies the center and extends directly into the ground floor, shaping an open living plate that supports daily life with flexibility and ease. This space mediates between formal and private areas on either side, operating as a shared core where family activity converges.

Additional courts align along both axes of the central void, establishing long visual connections across the full depth and width of the site. Upper-level bedrooms and private spaces engage with these smaller courts and with carefully placed openings that frame fragments of the surrounding context while maintaining distance and discretion.

interior courtyards bring daylight, air, and greenery into the plan | image © Bharath Ramamrutham