THE HIDDEN HOUSE

Concealed inside a hill, this hobbit-like house by Aslam.Sham Architects could well have grown out of the earth

- VAISHNAVI NAYEL TALAWADEKAR

Ajmal P. was always a dreamer. When other kids his age were feverishly chasing careers in law or medicine or engineering, he was busy manifesting a startupan effort that not only paid off, but landed him in that coveted category of entrepreneurs who had "made it".

With many of his childhood checkboxes ticked, one of the only things left on his checklist was building a home. So when he found the perfect site for it, he wasted no time in finding someone who could help him bring it to life. An Instagram search led him to Sham Salim and Aslam Karadan of aslam.sham architects. One phone call and one meeting later, he was convinced that the pair was right for the job. After all, with a contoured site like this one, it was an architectural undertaking achievable by but a precious few.