House over shops, Kalanki

Shop below, family above is the most common building type in Kathmandu and usually the worst — the house gets the leftovers of a plan drawn for the shop.

Here the two are separated properly. The commercial ground keeps its shutter and its full frontage; the house above gets its own entrance and turns its back on the road, with the living floor pushed behind a tall glazed bay that pulls light down a plot only a few metres wide. A planted terrace caps the building and gives the household the outdoor room the plot could not.