Words by Vaani Bhala
Field Notes from India
The bungalow is often associated with colonial life. It appears in British hill stations, garden suburbs, and later in postwar housing across Europe, America, and Australia. It is commonly understood as a colonial invention, shaped by Western ideas of comfort and domestic order. In reality, the bungalow predates colonial architecture in India. The word itself comes from bangla, referring to houses built in the style of Bengal. These structures evolved as climate responsive dwellings, designed to manage heat, monsoon rains, and daily life through material and spatial intelligence. What the colonial bungalow adopted was not an architectural style, but a way of living shaped by place.
"The bungalow was not designed for display. It was designed to cope."
Traditional Indian houses across regions shared common principles. Deep verandas created shaded buffers. Courtyards regulated airflow and light. Sloped roofs managed heavy rainfall. Thick walls moderated temperature. These features were responses to climate, not ornament. When British administrators arrived in India, European housing models proved unsuitable. Brick terraces and compact plans trapped heat and offered little relief from humidity. Adaptation became necessary. The bungalow emerged as a response. It absorbed Indian spatial logic while reorganising it to suit colonial domestic hierarchies.
The early colonial bungalow retained the core elements of indigenous dwellings. Single storey layouts allowed for cross ventilation. Verandas wrapped around the structure, functioning as transitional spaces between indoors and outdoors. These shaded zones reduced heat gain and created areas for work, rest, and social interaction.
Materials were chosen for performance rather than permanence. Lime plaster, timber, and local stone were commonly used. Roofs were pitched to shed monsoon rains quickly, while extended eaves protected walls from direct sun. These decisions were grounded in observation and adaptation, not imported design theory.
What changed was the internal organisation. Spaces were segregated to reflect colonial social structures. Servant quarters were separated. Bedrooms were assigned fixed functions. The courtyard, central to many Indian homes, was often pushed outward or replaced by verandas that maintained airflow without disrupting privacy norms imposed by colonial life.
As the bungalow spread beyond India, its Indian origins became less visible. In Britain, Australia, and later the United States, the bungalow was marketed as modern, efficient, and suburban. Its climate logic remained, but its lineage was obscured.
The irony is that the features that made the bungalow desirable globally were inherited directly from Indian vernacular architecture. Cross ventilation, indoor outdoor living, shaded thresholds, and flexible use of space were already embedded in local building traditions.
In the twentieth century, the bungalow became associated with affordability and comfort. Its single storey plan suited growing suburbs. Its connection to the outdoors aligned with emerging ideas of leisure. Yet few accounts acknowledged that its spatial intelligence was borrowed rather than invented.
Today, climate responsive architecture is once again gaining attention. Passive cooling, natural ventilation, and transitional spaces are discussed as sustainable strategies. Many of these principles have existed for centuries in Indian domestic architecture.
Understanding the bungalow as an adaptation rather than an invention reframes architectural history. It reveals how local knowledge was absorbed, repackaged, and normalised elsewhere. It also challenges the idea that modern comfort emerged solely from Western innovation.
The colonial bungalow stands as a reminder that architecture travels through necessity. When climates differ, forms must adapt. And often, the most enduring solutions come from observing how people have already learned to live with their environment.
The bungalow did not become global because it was fashionable. It became global because it worked.