Tara Group Housing Case Study: Section, Garden and Terraces (Charles Correa)

Tara Group Housing, known locally as Tara Apartments, is a low-rise, high-density housing complex in South Delhi designed by Charles Correa and built between 1975 and 1978. About 160 narrow homes sit in two rows that face each other across a shared garden, and the section steps so that each upper home gets an open-to-sky terrace while the projecting floors shade the court below. This case study covers the brief, the site, the plan and section, construction, how the complex has changed, and what designers can take from it today.

The brief: middle-income homes on the ground

Correa is best known for housing at two extremes: the Kanchanjunga tower in Bombay and low-cost schemes such as Belapur in Navi Mumbai. Tara sits between them. It was built for families buying their own homes, whom Nirman's Sandeep Singh describes as "a higher middle-income group of people".

Correa's concern with open space for each family goes back to his early work. The Charles Correa Foundation's page on his Tube Housing (Ahmedabad, 1961 to 1962) shows the start of this idea. The Tube Housing won an all-India low-cost housing competition. Its row houses matched the density of the walk-up flats the brief asked for, and they gave each family more living space. Their section was shaped so that hot air rises and escapes at the top.

In a later interview with Rohan Varma in DASH, Correa put the principle in one line: housing "is much more than just brick and mortar. It is also the open-to-sky spaces that lie between." The interview is about Navi Mumbai, not Tara, but it states the thinking that shaped Tara.

Sanjay Kumbhare and Sushama Dhepe, writing in the architecture journal Tekton (March 2020), say Correa designed Tara low-rise because "he believes that high rise leads to loneliness". They tie the house type to the tube-dwelling concept, citing Correa's book Housing and Urbanization.

Site and context

Tara is in Alaknanda, next to Kalkaji in South Delhi. It sits on the road edge, and its inner world is hidden from the street. The Delhi Walla's Mayank Austen Soofi put it simply: "Tara is an introvert." Two conditions shaped the design:

• Delhi's climate. Long, hot summers. Nirman mentions the "scorching Delhi summer sun", and Tekton calls the scheme "a better solution to inclement Delhi weather".
• Delhi's rules at the time. According to Tekton, Tara was designed for an FSI of about 1.0, and the Delhi building rules then allowed no more than 33 per cent ground coverage. So the architect "had to go to 4 stories". Today's Delhi rules are different. Our guide to setbacks, FAR and height limits explains how these controls shape built form now.

Nirman adds that the complex turns its back to the traffic and dust of the street. Singh links this inward-looking layout to the dense, introverted desert cities of Rajasthan, Udaipur and Jaisalmer among them.

Tara group housing concept: a street turned into a garden

Three ideas run through every published description of Tara:

1. Low-rise, high density. 160 homes at about 125 homes per hectare, in four storeys, with no tower. Tekton notes that this density was "reasonably in line" with other housing of the period. Tara reached it without the stacked flats around a lift core that most apartment blocks use.
2. A shared centre. Two rows of houses face a central garden. Tekton describes it as having "the same character a typical Indian street has": the place where children play while older residents watch, with seating built in.
3. Open-to-sky space for every family. Nirman says each apartment has an open terrace. In Tekton's reading, Correa "always emphasized dwelling units on the ground", and Tara's terraces bring something like that to homes above ground level.

Tara group housing plan and zoning

The plan is simple to describe:

• Two rows of narrow homes line the central garden. Tekton says the homes are mostly duplexes. Each "span[s] the entire width of built space", so it faces both the inner court and the outside.
• Narrow frontages. To fit every home onto both faces, "the architect had to keep the width of each dwelling unit minimal" (Tekton). This is the tube-house logic: a narrow, deep house that breathes front to back.
• Staggered units. The homes are set in and out along each row. Tekton says this stagger creates mutual shading and also breaks down "the monumentality of the long building face".
• Access from the court. Every home is reached from the central courtyard by open staircases. All comings and goings therefore pass through the shared space.
• Services and parking kept apart. Nirman says these were concealed or separated from the garden. Tekton says parking was provided "according to the requirements of that period".

This diagram is MOA's schematic of the idea, not Correa's plan: schematic, not to scale, drawn from the published descriptions. The real site plan is irregular, and the drawn number of homes is only illustrative. See "Visiting" below for where to find the original drawings.

Tara group housing section: two decks, stepped

The section is what most students come to Tara for. Singh describes the homes as "stacked in two decks". Tekton gives the effect: the architect "staggered the units in section to create terraces on the outer periphery and thereby cleverly achieved shading of internal courtyards".

Read the section in three parts:

• Terraces. The upper deck is set back on the outer side, so the roof of the lower deck becomes an open terrace: outdoor space a flat would not normally have.
• Shade. Stepping the decks means the building shades itself. Tekton calls this "the time-tested method of mutual shading", in which "shadows are cast by building on another part of the building and central open space". It compares this to the shaded courtyards of old Indian cities.
• Stairs. Open stairs climb from the garden to the upper homes. Tekton notes their open railings, in place of solid concrete parapets, which keep the stairs light and visible. The Delhi Walla calls Tara "a fantasyland of stairs" and compares them to the stepwells of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Some descriptions, mostly student reports, say the terraces face the garden rather than the street. Tekton, the most detailed published source we could open, places them on the outer periphery, and our diagram follows it. Check the original drawings before you draw a measured section.

Structure, materials and construction

The building is made of exposed concrete and brick. SOS Brutalism says Tara's coherent appearance comes from the consistent use of exposed concrete and brick. Rajen Baraya, introducing Tarisma on ArchitectureLive, describes it as "brick, mortar and exposed concrete". The Delhi Walla notes concrete, red brick walls and climbing vines.

Both SOS Brutalism and the Tarisma introduction name the structural engineer Mahendra Raj. Neither describes the structural system in detail, and we found no published account of it. Read the stepped, projecting decks in the photographs on those pages, and do not assume a frame or wall layout from them.

If you are specifying brick and concrete for a Delhi house today, our guide to building materials for Delhi NCR covers current options and the heat.

Light, climate and services

Most of Tara's climate response comes from its form, not from equipment:

• Mutual shading from the stepped section and the staggered plan, as described above.
• A water body in the court. Tekton says the architect "had used a water body to humidify the central community space for thermal comfort".
• Cross-ventilation. Each home runs through from the court to the outside, so it has openings on both faces.
• Trees and planting. The 2013 introduction credits the landscape to Ravinder Bhan, and visitors still describe a leafy garden.

We found no measured temperature or energy data for Tara. The climate claims above are design descriptions, not measurements.

Services are the weak point. Tekton argues that lifts, firefighting systems, piped gas and refuse chutes "cannot be economically provided" in Tara's form, because there is no central core to carry them.

Reception and how Tara has changed

Published views of Tara are mostly warm:

• Tekton (2020) concludes that it "appears to be proper model answer for housing" and that its residents "seem satisfied and proud of the housing design".
• The Delhi Walla (2023) counts it among the most soothing buildings in the Delhi region.
• SOS Brutalism records it as "in good condition".
• In March 2026 the Charles Correa Foundation shared a Hindustan Times feature on Tara titled "Charles Correa's Indian modernist futurist maisonettes".

The documented changes and problems are fewer:

• Parking. Tekton says parking "is much short of present-day demand", since car ownership has grown since 1978.
• Lifts. Tekton presents Tara as a walk-up whose form resists lifts. The Delhi Walla's 2023 visit, however, sees a resident step off a stair and into a lift, so at least one lift has been added. We found no record of when or where.
• Heritage status. In a letter of 20 December 2013, reproduced on Architexturez, the Delhi Urban Art Commission circulated INTACH's list of 62 post-Independence buildings for notification as modern heritage. "Tara Apartments; Charles Correa, 1978" is on it. In 2016 Millennium Post reported INTACH's petition in court because the list had not been notified. Writing in The Wire, Narayani Gupta noted that the list therefore had no official standing.
• A resident's history. Karan Sarwal's book Tarisma was built from society records, minutes, archive photographs and interviews with residents. Sarwal's family has been associated with Tara since the late 1960s. At his invitation, Correa revisited the complex with Sawhney, Raj and Bhan.

We could not find a dated survey of how individual homes have been altered, for example enclosed terraces or added rooms. A study that documents this would be a useful thesis or case-study project.

What designers in India can take from Tara

These are our reading, not claims from the sources.

1. Make the section do the climate work. Tara's shade, terraces and social stair all come from one stepped section, not from fins or screens added later. On a group housing scheme, draw the section before the elevation and ask what each step can shade or open up.
2. Give every home a piece of sky. A terrace of a usable size, open above, does for a flat what a courtyard does for a house. This is easier at four storeys than at fourteen, but setbacks at upper levels can still offer it.
3. Keep the shared space small enough to be a street. Tekton contrasts Tara's court with the large central open spaces of new apartment complexes, which many homes do not face. A court that every front door opens onto is used. One that sits behind the towers is not.
4. Plan for cars and lifts on day one. Tara's two documented pressures are parking and vertical access. If you design a walk-up, show where a lift could go later and where cars will stop, so the garden is not lost to them.

If you are documenting Tara for a studio or thesis, our field checklist for an architecture case study covers measured sketches, photographs and resident interviews. Housing projects like this also feature in our B.Arch thesis topics by typology.

Visiting Tara Apartments and finding the drawings

Tara is a private residential complex, not a museum, and we found no official visitor programme. The Delhi Walla calls it "more inaccessible" than Correa's public buildings in the city. Ask the residents' society before entering the court, keep to common areas, and do not photograph residents or the insides of homes without permission.

Where to see the real drawings:

• The Charles Correa Foundation runs the Correa Archives and lists Tara in its project list.
• Hasan-Uddin Khan's monograph Charles Correa (Concept Media, Singapore, 1987) covers Tara on pages 62 to 65. Archnet lists that chapter, but we could not open it.
• Tekton: the 2020 article includes layout and section sketches.

Looking for an architect who designs low-rise housing? Find an architect on MOA.

FAQ

Who designed Tara Group Housing?

Charles Correa. The 2013 introduction to the book Tarisma names Jasbir Sawhney as principal architect, Mahendra Raj for structure and Ravinder Bhan for landscaping.

When was Tara Apartments in Delhi built?

Between 1975 and 1978, according to the Charles Correa Foundation's project list. The Delhi Urban Art Commission's 2013 list dates it to 1978, and one account says it was designed in the early 1970s.

Where is Tara Apartments in Delhi?

In Alaknanda, next to Kalkaji, in South Delhi.

How many flats are there in Tara group housing?

160 homes at about 125 homes per hectare, according to Tekton (2020). Nirman gives "more than 125" two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Why is Tara group housing studied as a case study?

It shows low-rise, high-density housing in four storeys. Its stepped section gives homes open terraces and shades the shared garden, and every home opens onto that garden.

Sources

• Charles Correa Foundation: CCA, Project list (Tara Group Housing, New Delhi, 1975 to 1978) (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• Charles Correa Foundation: Tara Apartment in Alaknanda: Charles Correa's Indian modernist futurist maisonettes, sharing a Hindustan Times feature of 30 March 2026 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• Charles Correa Foundation: Tube Housing, Ahmedabad 1961-62 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• Tekton, Sanjay Kumbhare and Sushama Dhepe: Design Challenges in Present Day Housing: Learnings from Tara Apartments, Volume 7, Issue 1, March 2020, pages 46 to 53 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• Nirman, Sandeep Singh: Post-Independence Delhi architecture, section on Tara apartments (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• SOS Brutalism: Charles Correa / Mahendra Raj: Tara Group Housing, 1975?-1978 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• The Delhi Walla, Mayank Austen Soofi: City Landmark: Charles Correa's Tara Apartments, Kalkaji, 1 June 2023 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• ArchitectureLive, Rajen Baraya: Tarisma: The Spirit of TARA, Karan Sarwal, 20 January 2013 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• Architexturez: List of buildings as modern heritage in Delhi, Delhi Urban Art Commission letter of 20 December 2013 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• Millennium Post: INTACH moves court to protect Delhi's contemporary heritage, 21 June 2016 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• The Wire, Narayani Gupta: Of Icons and Iconoclasts: Saving Delhi's Modern Heritage, 6 May 2016 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)
• DASH, Delft Architectural Studies on Housing, Rohan Varma: Affordable Cities: Interview with Charles Correa, issue 12/13 (accessed 4 Nov 2026)