The studio.
A Kathmandu practice that designs the building and the interior — and can take the job through construction.
The test
A hotel is finished when a guest wants the same table. A house is finished when you want to come home in August. We start with the plot, the climate, and materials that can actually be laid.
The work
Hotels, restaurants, residences, commercial buildings. Interiors sit in the same brief as the plan.
The office is in Kathmandu. Work across the valley and further — Chitwan, Dolakha, Hetauda, Nawalparasi — and a house designed for a Sydney site.
Outside Nepal
Owners in India, Australia, the UK and Europe write when they want a building designed here, and often built here. The Sydney house is design work from this studio, not an Australian office.
FAQ
- What does Design Cave do?
- Architecture, interiors, and construction when the job needs a builder as well as a drawing. Hotels, restaurants, residences and commercial projects, from a studio in Kathmandu.
- Do you take hotels, restaurants, houses and commercial work?
- Yes. That is the centre of the work — hospitality, houses, shops and mixed-use buildings. Interiors sit in the same brief as the plan.
- Do you construct, or only design?
- Both, depending on the appointment. Every job gets drawings a contractor can price. When appointed, the studio can take the project through construction and site delivery. Not every project on the site was built by the studio.
- I live in India, Australia or elsewhere. Can you still take the project?
- Yes. Clients outside Nepal commission work to be designed here — and often built in Nepal. The studio has also designed a house for a Sydney site. It is not an Australian office.
- How does a commission start?
- Write with the plot, the use, a budget and when you want to start. The sequence is brief and site, plan and mass, material and interior, then documents and site.
- Are the public-realm and arena projects completed buildings?
- No. Maharajgunj leisure, the Bagmati corridor, Fashmi settlement and the Sallaghari arena are studies and visualisations. They are shown as studies.
- Can a hotel or shop also have a website or identity from the same office?
- When a building also needs to be found, the studio can take the site and the identity. Architecture stays at the centre.
- Where is the studio, and in what language?
- Kathmandu, Nepal. English and Nepali. Write to contact@designcave.com.np or designcave.npl@gmail.com, or call +977-9768774976.
- What should I send when I write?
- The site or locality, what the building is for, a sense of size and budget, and a date you want to start. Photographs of the plot help. We reply from Kathmandu.