Situated on a steep slope of an ancient hillock, the masterplanning project for Mundo Hill confronts the ecology of the site against a development aimed at creating 28 units in situ. The proposal initiates the discussion from the other end of the project approach – not what is to be built, BUT what is to be saved and preserved. The first instinct from the village in the neighbourhood was to preserve the found vegetation and fauna of the site. A detailed study also pointed to natural streams that get activated in the monsoon. Considering the factors of the ecosystem, an approach to keep a site-wide natural buffer was proposed to the stakeholders, enabling 28 small units to create a low-density development. All trees on the site were marked, and the buffer zone was created to protect more than 70% of the adult trees on the hill. While the architecture of the project was indicative of the kind of development that integrates with the imagery of the village, the core programmatic and physical was a direct outcome of a detailed environmental and contextual study.

Mundo Hill, for our practice, presented a new, ecology-first approach to local planning. The forces of development make it inevitable for construction to, unfortunately, happen on ecologically sensitive sites. All acts of development are inherently violent, and our approach to this project helped us mitigate and reconcile the anticipated damage to the place as a direct result of the construction process.