India because of its rich cultural heritage and wealth had been attracting numerous traders, pilgrims, scholars and even invaders from time to time and has borne the onslaught of Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mughals, Portuguese, French and finally British, who ruled for about 200 years (through East India Company and the Crown) with each asserting their power through architecture. The British hailing from cold regions initially replicated the European buildings on Indian soil but soon realized that due to tropical climate these were not successful and they will have to adopt indigenous architectural elements into their buildings to make them climate responsive. This paper briefly discusses the origin of a British bungalow in India, the modified designs of which were adopted in almost all the British colonies. Furthermore the bungalow became a generic spatial format for many colonial buildings in the times to come. The veranda of a bungalow gave respite from harsh sun and rain and was a transitional space between the main functional areas of the house or other building types and outside. Courtyard planning was another indigenous tool used during the British era that very successfully made the buildings climate responsive.

British Colonial Architecture, plan configuration, bungalow, ventilation, courtyard, Bricks, Walls, Roof.