Why Architects Are Reconsidering How Homes Move

For so many years, the discourse on residential design centered on light, space, and planning. Movement, particularly between levels, was considered a technical detail rather than an experience. However, as Indian residential buildings increase in height and as families adjust to living in vertical structures, architects are now beginning to reassess the role of movement in creating comfort, safety, and space use.

This is not a radical shift. It is a quiet, gradual, and very practical shift.

In today’s urban neighborhoods, single-level homes are slowly being replaced by builder floors, duplexes, and multi-level private homes. This is due to land scarcity, increasing costs, and the changing dynamics of the family. This has led to a subtle shift in the way homes are experienced—not only in terms of where people live but also in terms of how they move around in these environments.

According to architects, this has brought vertical movement into sharper relief. Stairs, which were previously a matter of course, are now considered more carefully. Elevators, too, are being considered earlier in the design process—not as status symbols but as instruments that define daily routines.

The answer is simple. Homes are required to function harder and for longer. Families consider their aging parents, young children, home offices distributed throughout the floors, and the basic needs of transporting groceries, suitcases, or laundry throughout the home. Up-and-down movement is no longer sporadic; it is continuous.

“In multi-level homes, circulation patterns impact the freedom with which people use their personal spaces,” says an architect working on residential projects in Delhi-NCR. “When movement becomes restrictive, some areas of the home cease to be used.”

This has resulted in a functional approach to design, which emphasizes continuity and usability over innovation. The use of elevators, when implemented thoughtfully, is increasingly factored into this equation. The focus has shifted from speed to functionality, proportions, and the seamless integration of these solutions with the home itself.

The residential mobility industry has started to react to this shift. New Delhi-based vertical mobility solutions platform Elevito, for example, has noticed architects approaching elevators less as end-of-project solutions and more as solutions to be considered simultaneously with home design.

At Elevito, this has meant a residential-first approach to vertical mobility. Instead of thinking of elevators as technical elements, there has been a focus on how such systems enable movement within homes over the long term—quietly, reliably, and without requiring behavioral adjustments to the residents.

“When architects think about movement early, homes age better,” said Neha Singhania, Marketing and Sales Head at Elevito. “It enables spaces to remain accessible and usable over time, rather than being reconfigured around limitations.”

What is significant is not the increase in the number of elevators, but the logic that underlies their use. Architects talk of long-term usability rather than short-term convenience. Homes are being planned with the future in mind—how spaces will be accessed as bodies change, habits change, and families grow older together.

This is a shift from the previous trend of considering accessibility as an afterthought. Movement is now being considered alongside other basics such as ventilation, lighting, and space flow. This is an acknowledgment that good design enables life in the background, without calling attention to itself.

This shift also marks an increasing level of maturity in the way that homeowners think about planning. Rather than asking how impressive a space looks at completion, more families are asking how it will function years down the line. Design, in this way, has shifted from being about moments to being about continuity.

As Indian residential units continue to go vertical, architects are less likely to view this trend as a fashion statement. It is more of an adjustment—and one that is based on life as it is lived. In rethinking the way homes are in motion, architects are reacting to function, not fashion.

And in this subtle shift, there is a simple truth: a good home is more than one that is aesthetically pleasing—it is one that enables its occupants to move through it with ease, confidence, and dignity every day.

The above information does not belong to Outlook India and is not involved in the creation of this article.