How can
homes
breathe easy


A sustainable urban ventilation initiative
by Architecture for Dialogue

Marginalised communities bear the brunt of toxic air within homes everyday, unable to protect themselves.


While air quality grabs headlines and sparks policy debates, houses in informal settlements like Madanpur Khadar (Delhi) suffer from air pollution trapped in living spaces for hours, leading to severe impact on health. Combined with heat stress and use of biomass for fuel, households unanimously voice feeling suffocated.

We are building a retrofit spatial intervention to improve air quality and provide immediate comfort indoors.
How can architecture help combat poor air?  

Breathe Easy is a low-cost spatial solution that reduces household air pollution using passive ventilation techniques.


The solution works with existing structures to harness heat from the sun and induce air flow — flushing pollution out of homes.
at zero operational cost

From ground up

Breathe Easy evolved from our research in Madanpur Khadar involving documentation of homes, domestic routines and pollution patterns.

The study established a link between spatial parameters and prevailing pollution.


Read the report    




Learning from the past

Historically, passive ventilation enabled comfort indoors without electrical and mechanical means.

BreatheEasy creatively adapts long-lost ventilation techniques like solar chimneys and wind catchers to combat the contemporary air pollution crisis within homes.




Gendered impact

Women bear an unequal impact from polluted air due to cooking for long hours and voice feeling suffocated.

Breathe Easy puts their needs at the center through feedback and co-design sessions conducted in the community.

“Breathe Easy sheds light on the conversation on liveability in informal settlements and the need for immediate comfort.

In the long term, it has the potential to contribute to a growing vocabulary of housing upgradation tools and standards.”


Mukta NaikArchitect and Urban Planner
Fellow at Centre for Policy Research

Awards



Redesign Everything Challenge Winner

What Design Can Do awards and accelerates projects pioneering design for climate action. The project was showcased at WDCD Live in Amsterdam in July 2024.  more

Godrej Design Lab Fellowship 2024

The prototype development is partially supported by Godrej Design Lab (GDL) Fellowship awarded to Architecture for Dialogue. more




Press





The project proposes a retrofit-based and cost-effective approach to housing upgradation in India.Read


A testament to the power of design in creating a healthier and more sustainable future for our cities.Read

Breathe Easy leverages long-lost vernacular building techniques to combat air pollution in Delhi homes.Read

Who we are

Architecture for Dialogue (AfD_) is a group of architects, researchers and social designers exploring the role of built environment in creating resilient communities.

Since 2020, AfD has undertaken research studies, prototypes, tactical interventions and pilots across themes like sustainable mobility, waste management and air pollution.

Visit website    Project team
AfD and Cornerstone team in Madanpur Khadar

Explore our work on air pollution


Khirkee Air LabTwo-month test lab in Delhi addressed curiosities around air pollution — how air moves around within a house; how pollution resides in indoor and outdoor spaces; and how this information could be recorded and shared effectively. Project with Salil Parekh. My house is illA speculative installation inviting visitors to a home adapting to persistent air pollution. Housed within an apartment in Delhi, the project intersects architecture, new media and ecology to investigate air within indoor environments and visualise pollution patterns otherwise unseen. Project with Salil Parekh; supported by Khoj.

Partners

BreatheEasy is made possible through AfD’s partnerships across sectors of architecture, design and social impact in India.
Asar and Cornerstone support the project through on-ground community mobilisation. Prototype development is supported by Godrej Design Lab. What Design Can Do supports the project through an acceleration programme to amplify impact.