The Tenali Residence – 5,000 Sq Ft of Contemporary Vertical Living on a Compact Plot in Andhra Pradesh
At a Glance
| Detail | Specification |
|---|---|
| Location | Tenali, Andhra Pradesh |
| Plot Area | 241.36 sqm (2,598 sq ft) |
| Built-Up Area | 5,068 sq ft across all floors |
| Configuration | G+2 with Mezzanine Floor |
| Building Height | 15.49 m (50 ft 10 in) |
| Jurisdiction | Andhra Pradesh Building Rules |
| Deliverables | Architecture, Structure, Plumbing, Electrical, Drainage — 58 Sheets |
| Project Phase | Good for Construction (GFC) |
Introduction 
This house design in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh tells the story of what happens when a compact urban plot meets ambitious architectural thinking. Tenali, a mid-sized town in the Guntur district, is a place where land comes at a premium and family ambitions run deep. When the homeowner approached Ongrid Design with a plot measuring just 2,598 sq ft, the brief was clear: design a contemporary home that grows upward without compromising on light, ventilation, or modern aesthetics.
The result is a G+2 residence with a mezzanine level — a building that extracts over 5,000 sq ft of livable space from a modest footprint, all while complying with Andhra Pradesh Building Rules and presenting a facade that holds its own against any metropolitan address. This is the story of how thoughtful vertical planning, a material-rich elevation strategy, and a digitally-driven design process came together to produce a home that is as practical as it is striking.
The Vision and the Challenge
What the Homeowner Wanted 
The homeowner's requirements reflected a reality common across tier-2 towns in India: the family needed generous living space, but the plot could only accommodate a building footprint of approximately 135.7 sqm (1,460 sq ft). The answer had to be vertical. The client envisioned a contemporary home that would feel open and airy despite its upward reach — a residence that balanced privacy with natural light, offered distinct zones for daily living and rest, and presented an elevation design that signalled modern taste without veering into ostentation.
The Site Constraints 
The plot, situated along Goverdhan Road in Tenali, imposed several regulatory and practical constraints that shaped every design decision.
The Andhra Pradesh Building Rules mandated a front setback of 1.5 metres, rear setback of 1 metre, and side setbacks of 1 metre on both flanks. On a plot that spans roughly 15.36 metres deep and 19.8 metres wide at its outer boundary, these margins substantially reduce the buildable footprint.
A total building height of 15.49 metres (50 ft 10 in) needed to accommodate four distinct slab levels — ground, first, second, and a terrace floor — plus a mumty for staircase access. Every millimetre of vertical space had to be earned through careful structural and floor-to-floor height calibration.
Soil conditions, confirmed via a submitted soil test report, informed the foundation design and ensured the multi-storey structure could be safely supported without excessive cost overruns.
The Ongrid Approach 
A Digital-First, Collaborative Process
Ongrid Design operates as an online home design service, enabling homeowners across India to access professional architecture without geographic limitations. For this project, the entire design — from concept to Good for Construction (GFC) drawings — was developed remotely through Ongrid's collaborative digital platform.
This approach delivered two crucial advantages. First, it gave the homeowner full visibility into every design decision as it evolved, enabling real-time feedback and iteration. Second, it eliminated the delays and cost inefficiencies that often accompany traditional architect-client engagements in smaller towns, where access to specialised design talent can be limited.
A Philosophy of Intelligent Verticality 
When land is scarce, the instinct is to stack floors. But stacking alone produces dark, cramped buildings. The design philosophy for this project was rooted in what we call intelligent verticality — the idea that each floor should not merely exist above the last, but should actively contribute to the light, air, and spatial experience of the floors around it.
This meant incorporating double-height voids, strategically placed skylights, open terraces that serve as light wells for the floors below, and a mezzanine level tucked between the second floor and terrace that adds usable area without consuming the full footprint.
Space Planning: A Floor-by-Floor Breakdown
The building rises through five distinct levels, each calibrated to a specific functional role within the household.
| Floor | Area | Slab Level | Primary Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground Floor | 135.7 sqm (1,461 sq ft) | 0 mm (GL) to 300 mm (Plinth) | Entry, parking, store, services |
| First Floor | 131.4 sqm (1,414 sq ft) | 4,080 mm | Primary living and family spaces |
| Second Floor | 132.7 sqm (1,428 sq ft) | 7,860 mm | Bedrooms and private quarters |
| Mezzanine Floor | 19 sqm (205 sq ft) | 8,940 mm | Flexible-use zone |
| Terrace Floor | 27.6 sqm (297 sq ft) | 11,640 mm | Open terrace and utility |
Total Built-Up Area: 5,068 sq ft (446.4 sqm)
Ground Floor: The Foundation of Daily Life 
The ground floor is designed around practical necessities — vehicle parking, a store room, and service access — while establishing the architectural tone for the entire building. A ramped entry provides accessible ingress, with steps alongside for direct pedestrian access. The building pad of 135.7 sqm sits within the regulatory setbacks, with a 1.5-metre margin at the front creating a buffer between the road and the living spaces above.
At this level, a glass panel feature and a fluted panel element flank the main entry, hinting at the material richness that unfolds on the upper floors. A duct for services is integrated cleanly into the facade, concealed behind metal louvers finished in paint to maintain visual coherence.
First and Second Floors: Living Above the Street 
The first and second floors carry the bulk of the home's living programme. The floor-to-floor heights — 4,080 mm to the first slab and 7,860 mm to the second — afford generous ceiling heights that prevent the vertical stacking from feeling oppressive.
Large fixed glass windows and openable windows are deployed in a rhythm that responds to the orientation of each facade. The front elevation features a combination of floor-to-ceiling glazing and carefully proportioned rectangular openings that frame views while controlling glare and heat gain. Sliding doors on the upper floors open onto balconies protected by glass railings, extending the indoor living area outward and pulling natural light deep into the plan.
The Mezzanine: A Hidden Asset 
At just 19 sqm, the mezzanine level between the second floor and the terrace is a masterclass in opportunistic planning. Positioned at a slab level of 8,940 mm — just 1,080 mm above the second floor slab — it occupies a partial footprint that doesn't count toward the total floor area in the same way a full floor would, yet provides a flexible zone that could serve as a study, a home office, or additional storage.
The Terrace: Breathing Room at the Top
The terrace floor, set at 11,640 mm, is divided between an open terrace and a roofed utility zone. A water tank is integrated at this level, positioned at 14,590 mm from ground level within the mumty structure. The open terrace provides the family with an outdoor retreat — a rarity in a vertically planned urban home — while also functioning as a light well that introduces sky exposure to the core of the building via a strategically placed skylight.
Elevation Design: A Material Vocabulary for Contemporary Tenali 
The exterior of this home is where the design truly distinguishes itself. Rather than defaulting to a single facade treatment, the elevation strategy deploys five distinct materials in a carefully orchestrated composition — an approach that gives the building visual depth and a character far beyond its compact footprint.
The Material Palette 
Metal Louvers Duct (Paint Finish): Concealing service ducts along the facade, these painted metal louvers transform a utilitarian necessity into a textural design element. Positioned vertically, they introduce a rhythmic linear pattern that anchors the left side of the front elevation.
Paint Finish: Clean, white-painted plaster forms the dominant surface, providing a neutral canvas against which the richer materials gain visual weight. The paint finish also reflects Tenali's abundant sunlight, keeping the facade bright and reducing heat absorption.
Glass Railing: Used on the balconies of the first and second floors, frameless glass railings maintain sightlines and prevent the balcony projections from visually cluttering the facade. They also introduce a contemporary transparency that communicates openness.
Vitrified Tile Cladding: Applied in large-format panels on key portions of the front facade, vitrified tile cladding provides a veined, marble-like appearance with the durability and low maintenance that a tropical climate demands. This material does the heavy aesthetic lifting, giving the building its distinctive, polished character.
Brick Cladding: On the side and rear elevations, exposed brick introduces warmth and earthiness, grounding the building in a material tradition that resonates with the regional context. Combined with circular porthole windows — a bold, almost nautical gesture — the brick-clad faces transform what would typically be utilitarian side elevations into design features in their own right.
The Porthole Windows: A Signature Detail 
Perhaps the most distinctive element of this design is the use of circular porthole-style windows on the brick-clad elevations. These are not merely decorative. Each porthole is fitted with louvered inserts that permit ventilation while filtering direct sunlight. Arranged in an asymmetric composition — three on one face, two on another — they create a playful rhythm against the regularity of the brickwork, giving the building an identity that is immediately recognisable from the street.
The Jaali Screen: Filtering Light and Identity
The front facade of one elevation variant features a full-height perforated jaali screen in golden-beige tones, running from the first floor to the terrace level. This screen serves a dual purpose: it filters harsh western light into a dappled, pattern-rich interior glow, and it introduces a layer of cultural identity — the jaali being a time-honoured element of Indian architecture — into an otherwise resolutely contemporary composition.
Technical Design: Built to Stand 
A building of this height and density demands structural rigour. The complete blueprint package includes 13 sheets of structural design and drawings, ensuring that every column, beam, and slab is precisely specified for safe construction.
Structural System
The building employs a reinforced concrete (RCC) frame system. The structural design specifies column and beam positions coordinated with the architectural layout to avoid intrusions into living spaces. Cantilever slabs and beams extend the balconies beyond the primary structural grid, supported by carefully calculated moment resistance rather than additional columns — maintaining the clean, floating aesthetic visible in the 3D renders.
Building Floor Levels
The vertical organisation follows a precise sequence of slab levels, each calibrated to deliver adequate ceiling heights while staying within the overall height envelope:
| Level | Height from Ground |
|---|---|
| Ground Level | 0 mm |
| Plinth Slab Level | 300 mm |
| First Floor Slab Level | 4,080 mm |
| Second Floor Slab Level | 7,860 mm |
| Mezzanine Floor Slab Level | 8,940 mm |
| Terrace Floor Slab Level | 11,640 mm |
| Mumty Slab Level | 14,590 mm |
| Top Level | 15,490 mm |
The plinth is raised 300 mm above the ground level — a standard practice in Andhra Pradesh to protect against water ingress during the monsoon season. The mumty, at 14,590 mm, houses the staircase headroom and water tank access, while the parapet at 12,540 mm provides safety at the terrace edge.
Plumbing, Drainage, and Electrical 
The plumbing design, spread across 10 sheets, addresses water supply, drainage, and sanitary connections for all floors. A dedicated drainage layout ensures that rainwater and wastewater are managed efficiently — a critical consideration for a multi-storey building in a region that experiences heavy monsoon rainfall. The electrical layout, detailed in 6 sheets, maps the positioning of outlets, switches, lighting fixtures, and the main electrical panel for each floor, ensuring the infrastructure supports contemporary living without overloading circuits or compromising safety.
What Makes This Project Significant 
Proving the Case for Vertical Homes in Tier-2 India
This project demonstrates what is possible when design ambition meets practical constraint. In towns like Tenali, the default response to a small plot is often a generic, contractor-led G+1 or G+2 build with minimal attention to light, facade, or spatial experience. Project 1117 challenges that default by delivering a home that could hold its own in any metropolitan context — a building with considered proportions, a rich material palette, and a plan that treats every square metre as an opportunity rather than a compromise.
The Value of a Complete Blueprint
One of the most impactful aspects of this project is the comprehensiveness of the deliverable. With 58 sheets spanning architecture, structure, plumbing, electrical, and drainage, the homeowner receives not just a design but a complete construction manual. Every drawing is coded, indexed, and cross-referenced — from the A-series furniture and civil layouts through the E-series electrical drawings to the P-series plumbing and drainage sets and the structural drawings numbered 01 through 13.
This level of documentation empowers the homeowner to engage local contractors with confidence, negotiate material costs based on precise quantities, and maintain quality control throughout construction. It is, in essence, the transfer of technical expertise that Ongrid's philosophy is built upon — the belief that knowledge is power, and that every homeowner deserves access to the same calibre of design documentation that was once reserved for large-scale commercial projects.
Climate-Responsive Design for Andhra Pradesh
While Tenali's climate — characterised by hot summers, a pronounced monsoon, and generally high humidity — does not present the extreme challenges of a coastal or arid site, the design still responds to its environment with care. The vitrified tile cladding reflects solar heat while resisting moisture damage. The jaali screen filters harsh afternoon light. The raised plinth guards against water ingress. And the open terrace and skylight work together to create a stack effect that encourages natural ventilation through the building's core.
Outcomes and Impact
For the homeowner, this project represents more than a house plan — it is a roadmap to building a home that reflects both his family's needs and his personal aesthetic ambitions. The complete GFC drawing set, issued in November 2025 for both permit and construction purposes, equips him to begin construction with a clear path from foundation to finish.
For Ongrid Design, Project 1117 reaffirms a core conviction: that homeowners in every corner of India — whether in metropolitan centres or towns like Tenali — deserve access to thoughtful, contemporary, and technically rigorous home design. The collaborative, digital-first process that produced this blueprint eliminated the geographic barriers that would otherwise have prevented a homeowner in a small Andhra Pradesh town from accessing this calibre of architectural service.
The Tenali Residence stands as a quiet but confident statement. It says that a compact plot need not dictate a compromised home. That vertical living, when planned with intelligence and care, can be spacious, light-filled, and beautiful. And that the gap between metropolitan design ambition and small-town execution can be bridged — one blueprint at a time.
About Ongrid Design
Ongrid Design is an online home design platform based in Pune, Maharashtra, that enables homeowners across India to access professional architecture and interior design services — remotely, affordably, and with full transparency. From concept to construction-ready drawings, Ongrid's digital-first process puts homeowners in control of their build.
Ready to design your dream home? Book a free video consultation or connect with us on WhatsApp to get started.
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