Stormy weather is a delight in this “monsoon cabin” near Mumbai

Most vacation homes focus on maximizing sunlight; This small holiday in Maharashtra, India is all about celebrating inclement weather.

“We call it a monsoon cabin because the house is designed around the notion of enjoying the rain,” says homeowner Mridu Sahay Patnaik, a self-taught designer with a fashion background who is a partner at the firm Studio Arkham. Are. “You can lie in bed and see it from the sky, or hear and feel it while you’re cooking.”

Mridu always had a dream of creating something of his own. She and her husband, a corporate lawyer, live on the 31st floor of a high-rise building in Mumbai, and like many city residents, they enjoy escaping. western ghats To enjoy nature on weekends and holidays. “Mumbai has twice the density of New York,” she says. “There is a need for a change of scenery, for rejuvenation.”

The region is known for its monsoons, and the rains in the countryside feel lovely and relaxing. The rapid, sometimes sideways, torrent of water bouncing off the low mountain ranges creates what Mr. calls the “Green Niagara Falls.”

In other words, it’s essential to embrace the wet season if you’re going on vacation there. And while many people build huge farmhouses in the area to escape storms, Mridu took inspiration from an exhibition at Denmark’s Utzon Center – which focused on renowned designer Jørn Utzon’s commitment to dreaming big, but building small – To create a relatively humble, minimalist structure that celebrates the beauty of a rainy day.