Sectional Shading as Inhabitable Facade: Cielo Tower by Sanjay Puri Architects

Sanjay Puri Architects reinterprets the traditional Indian jaali as a sectional, inhabitable façade for a 12-storey residential tower in Nagpur—adapting a historic shading device into a contemporary, high-rise climate system. Located in Nagpur, where temperatures exceed 40°C for much of the year, the building responds through a facade that mitigates heat gain while allowing cross-ventilation. With a limited 270 sq. m. floor plate per level and mandatory setbacks on all sides, each apartment required both protection and openness. The solution was a dual-balcony configuration: one open and one screened, which creates a transitional thermal buffer zone for every major room, […]