To combat housing shortage amid rapid urban expansion, this prototype housing seeks to increase density while remaining compatible culturally. Six family units, each on two floors and provided with outdoor spaces on the ground and upper floors, occupy the same footprint as a conventional single-family compound. Each unit contains a bedroom, living and dining rooms, storage, and indoor and outdoor kitchens on the ground floor; each upper floor contains two bedrooms, an outdoor laundry and a terrace. Construction employs unfired compressed-earth blocks for the walls and shallow-vault ceilings; limited use of reinforced concrete provides support for the roofs. Passive cooling is inherent in the earth construction materials and in the organisation of spaces around open areas and shaded terraces. 

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture