Earth's Echo

Tropical Living & Design

3 pieces in this section.

Houses in the tropics work best when they stop fighting the climate and start borrowing from it. This section looks at open-plan architecture, shade and airflow, natural materials and the small design decisions that make a hot, humid place feel cool, calm and lived-in.

Tropical Modernism: Why Open-Plan Architecture Defines Bali Luxury
Tropical Living & Design

Tropical Modernism: Why Open-Plan Architecture Defines Bali Luxury

In cooler countries we build to keep the weather out. In the tropics the finest houses do the opposite — and once you have stayed in one, sealed rooms never…

Maya Sundari · 18 June 2026
Designing With the Climate, Not Against It
Tropical Living & Design

Designing With the Climate, Not Against It

Shade, airflow, thermal mass and planting will do more for comfort in a hot country than any amount of air conditioning. The old builders knew it; the good new ones…

Ravi Menon · 28 May 2026
Where a Group Comes Together: Designing a Shared Tropical Stay
Tropical Living & Design

Where a Group Comes Together: Designing a Shared Tropical Stay

Ten people, one roof, two weeks. Whether that reads as a dream or a warning comes down almost entirely to how the building is…

Ravi Menon · 7 May 2026