Office of Design & Development, Ambli Ahmedabad
Architectural Practice Studio
Positioned at the threshold between ancestral memory and contemporary inquiry, the Office of Design & Development (ODD) approaches architectural conservation not as the embalming of a relic, but as the stewardship of a living inheritance. Housed within a century-old agrarian dwelling in Mandir Vado Vass Pol, Ambli Village—once home to a tamarind-cultivating Patel family—the studio inhabits a vernacular hybrid of timber columns, wooden beams, and load-bearing brick-and-mud mortar infill situated between the historic village fabric and Ambli Lake.
Rather than merely salvaging physical matter, our intervention sought to resurrect the intangible domestic soul of the house. By preserving its culturally grounded, unassuming presence within the streetscape, the architecture remains indistinguishable from its residential neighbours while quietly sheltering a contemporary design studio inside. As Ahmedabad assumes its mantle as a UNESCO World Heritage City, this project extends that ethos of guardianship beyond the walled core—demonstrating how the fragile, everyday patrimoine of its peri-urban villages can be sustained through adaptive, respectful habitation.
