Architects Ashna Lulla and Vignesh Sivakumar explore the city, traversing its neighbourhoods, architectural typologies, family dynamics, and each homeowner’s aesthetic. Get acquainted with 87-year-old matriarch Lily Vijayaraghavan, who has dedicated her life to collecting brass antiques or get transported to the lush backyard of the Jacobs, who spend their evenings watching a panoply of fireflies. 

Discover homes whose stories are told through heirlooms, vivid colours and textures that call to the senses, local materials, tree-lined avenues, and tropical blooms. Together these homes could easily form a mood board of Madras itself: unassuming, authentic, and steeped in cultural legacy. 

The city may have long since become Chennai, but Madras remains a way of life.