_pages-to-jpg-0001.jpg)
When architect Sumit Dhawan, Founder and Principal Architect at Cityspace’82 Architects, sits across the table from today’s homebuyers, the questions he hears have changed. A decade ago, clients arrived asking about layouts, square footage, or what façade style would impress their neighbors. Today, they lean forward with a different curiosity: “What is my home really made of?”
It is this shift towards what Dhawan calls material honesty that is reshaping contemporary architecture in India. For him, the conversation has evolved from skin-deep appearances to the very soul of a structure. Buyers are no longer satisfied with aesthetics alone; they want to know whether the walls they lean against, the paints they breathe, and the floors they stand on align with values of health, sustainability, and authenticity.
A Dialogue Beyond Design
Material honesty, Dhawan explains, is not simply about choosing high-quality or expensive finishes. It is about celebrating the true nature of materials whether stone, brick, wood, or lime plaster without hiding them behind unnecessary layers. This transparency of tectonics, as architects term it, builds trust. “A home should not pretend,” he stresses. “It should reveal what it is made of, because truth in material translates into truth in living.”
Wellness: The New Cornerstone
The pandemic permanently altered how people relate to their homes. According to Dhawan, clients now walk into discussions equipped with surprising technical knowledge, terms like VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) or Sick Building Syndrome no longer belong only to research papers. Buyers want homes that breathe, with materials that do not trap toxins or compromise indoor air quality.
He recalls clients who insisted on lime plaster walls because they allow natural humidity control, or others who rejected synthetic paints in favour of breathable finishes. To Dhawan, this signals a broader understanding: the home is not a backdrop, but an ecosystem of wellness. “The final frontier of well-being is the space we live in every day,” he notes, “and materials are at the core of that.”
Sustainability: A Responsibility, Not a Trend
Alongside health comes the urgency of sustainability. Dhawan sees his clients stepping into the role of environmental custodians. They are asking about embodied carbon, the hidden footprint of materials from extraction to installation.
He offers a pointed example: the allure of Italian marble is undeniable, yet discerning buyers now pause to weigh its carbon-heavy journey across continents against the honesty of using locally quarried stone. In this balancing act, a home becomes not just a structure on land, but one born of its land.
This shift, Dhawan argues, is not aesthetic minimalism, it is ethical maximalism, where every decision is loaded with planetary consequences.
India’s Vernacular Wisdom
Interestingly, Dhawan believes India has long practiced material honesty, only to rediscover it now. Exposed brickwork, for instance, is enjoying a revival in urban homes. It serves as structure, insulation, and finish—layered yet simple, ancient yet modern. In coastal regions, laterite stone is making a comeback, prized for both its strength and earthy beauty.
Traditional lime plaster remains close to his heart. Beyond being non-toxic, it offers a tactile depth and sheen that modern paints cannot match. “There is something deeply grounding about living with materials that have stood the test of centuries,” Dhawan reflects.
The Beauty of Wood, Reclaimed and Revealed
Another trend Dhawan celebrates is the renewed respect for timber. Columns and rafters crafted from Burmese teak or rosewood, assembled with artisanal joinery, double up as structural elements and living sculptures. Increasingly, he notes, architects are leaning on reclaimed wood or sustainably sourced Indian timber, showcasing beams and frameworks instead of concealing them under false ceilings.
“This isn’t nostalgia,” he clarifies. “It is a conscious statement that the craft and the material itself are beautiful enough to be seen and celebrated.”
Architects as Educators
Dhawan sees his role evolving from designer to curator and educator. Clients, he believes, crave guidance to make sense of the overwhelming flood of material choices. An architect’s responsibility is no longer limited to creating striking forms, but to translate sustainability, wellness, and material honesty into lived experiences.
“Every home we design is a chance to leave behind a legacy of truth,” he says. “A building should breathe with its inhabitants and with the planet. That is real luxury.”
The Luxury of Authenticity
In an age where digital simulations can manufacture perfection, Dhawan finds that people are yearning for tangible authenticity, walls that bear the mark of clay, ceilings that reveal wood grain, and floors that echo the quarries they came from.
For buyers, this is no longer a compromise; it is the ultimate form of luxury. A home that is transparent in its making, honest in its materials, and aligned with human and planetary well-being has become the dream.
And for Sumit Dhawan, that dream is not abstract. It is already taking shape in bricks, wood, stone, and lime, one honest home at a time.
