Crest Nine is built around an unusual architectural decision: instead of flattening a steep coastal hillside to make room for a building, its designers allowed the building to follow the slope. 

Crest Nine descends six metres below road level, revealing its 32,000-square-foot wellness complex gradually rather than overwhelming the hillside. Credit: Sanjay Puri Architects

The result is a 32,000-square-foot wellness and recreation centre in Anjarle, Maharashtra, arranged as a series of curved volumes that step down towards the ocean.

The approach is deliberately understated. From the access road, visitors do not see the full scale of Crest Nine. The entrance sits six metres below road level, reached by a broad staircase or a gently curving ramp that runs alongside a landscaped garden. Rather than announcing itself as a large complex, the building reveals its spaces gradually as visitors descend into the site. The journey is part of the architecture, not simply a way of getting inside. 

Instead of flattening the steep coastal terrain, Sanjay Puri Architects let the building follow its natural contours. Credit: Sanjay Puri Architects


Designed by Mumbai-based Sanjay Puri Architects, Crest Nine serves as a recreational and wellness hub for a gated villa development by the House of Abhinandan Lodha. It occupies a steeply contoured hillside overlooking the ocean in Anjarle, a coastal location in Maharashtra, India. The project was completed in January 2026, following a design and construction period that began in December 2022. Its reported cost was ₹28 crore, approximately US$3.08 million.

The central design decision was to work with the existing terrain rather than reshape it. Conventional construction on a steep slope often involves cutting into the hillside and creating a level platform before building. At Crest Nine, the architects took a different approach. The complex is divided into a sequence of curved structures that follow the land as it descends, allowing the architecture to adapt to the natural gradient.

Locally sourced laterite stone gives Crest Nine a direct connection to Maharashtra’s landscape, while its curved roofline creates a striking silhouette. Credit: Sanjay Puri Architects

Those structures are connected by landscaped courtyards, open spaces and terraces facing the ocean. Their forms vary in height and scale, creating a composition that changes as visitors move through the site. The design moves from a relatively simple curved entrance façade into a series of parabolic volumes. A parabola is a symmetrical curve often associated with the shape of an arch; here, it gives the buildings their distinctive sculpted profiles.

The roof follows the same architectural language. Its curved profile rises over the main interior spaces and dips between them, helping define the courtyards below. Deep overhangs extend above the outdoor decks, providing shade and shelter from monsoon rain. These projections are practical responses to the coastal climate, but they also help connect the separate volumes into one continuous composition.

Nearly 70% of Crest Nine’s built areas rely on natural ventilation, reducing the need for air conditioning in a demanding coastal climate. Credit: Sanjay Puri Architects


Material choice reinforces that relationship with the location. The walls are built using locally sourced laterite stone, a reddish, iron-rich rock commonly used in parts of western India. Its use gives the complex a material connection to the region while reducing the need to transport building materials over long distances. The roof is supported by a metal framework finished with shingles.

Inside, the layout is organised around a range of recreational and hospitality spaces. The upper volumes contain an indoor sports room, a gymnasium, a restaurant, a bar and four guest bedrooms. Each opens onto broad, curved decks that frame views towards the ocean to the west. Rather than treating the terraces as leftover outdoor space, the design makes them an extension of the rooms themselves, giving visitors a direct connection to the surrounding landscape.

Three swimming pools, a health club and an open cafeteria occupy the lower level, turning the hillside into a connected leisure destination. Credit: Sanjay Puri Architects

A central open staircase provides the main link between the upper and lower levels. It wraps around a circular courtyard before descending towards the swimming pool area. This arrangement makes the courtyard a focal point for movement through the building, while bringing daylight and open air into the centre of the complex.

Three swimming pools, a health club and an open cafeteria occupy the lower level. The cafeteria connects to a large multifunctional deck designed to accommodate different activities. Together, these spaces give Crest Nine a programme that extends beyond a conventional gym or clubhouse. It combines exercise, dining, accommodation and leisure within one connected environment. 

The ocean is more than a distant backdrop: broad curved decks extend the restaurant, gym and guest rooms towards the western views. Credit: Sanjay Puri Architects

The relationship between indoor and outdoor space also informs the project's approach to ventilation. According to the architects, nearly 70% of the built areas are naturally ventilated and do not require air conditioning. Every internal space receives natural light, while landscaped pockets and courtyards help bring air into the building.

This is an example of passive cooling: reducing indoor heat through the design of a building rather than relying entirely on mechanical systems such as air conditioners. Orientation, shade, airflow and the arrangement of openings can all influence how much cooling a space needs. At Crest Nine, the open courtyards, naturally ventilated areas and deep roof overhangs work together to limit reliance on energy-intensive cooling.

The strategy matters particularly in a coastal setting, where strong sunlight and seasonal monsoon rains influence how buildings are used. The overhangs protect exposed decks, while the open spaces allow air and daylight to reach areas that might otherwise depend on artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation. The architects say that the use of local materials and labour, alongside passive cooling and daylighting, also helps reduce the project's embodied and lifecycle carbon emissions. Embodied carbon refers to emissions associated with producing, transporting and assembling construction materials; lifecycle emissions account for a building's wider environmental impact over its use.

Crest Nine has a carpet area of 32,000 square feet, or approximately 2,970 square metres. The project was commissioned by the House of Abhinandan Lodha, with Sanjay Puri leading the architectural work. The design team included Sanya Gupta, Madhavi Belsare, Akshay Chikhalkar and Payal Raut. Structural engineering was handled by Epicon Consultants, while Studio Roots worked on the landscape design. 

For Sanjay Puri Architects, the project adds another example of a design approach that responds closely to its setting. The firm has received more than 540 awards, including 400 international architecture awards, according to its published profile. But at Crest Nine, the more interesting measure is how the building handles a difficult site. Its steep slope is not hidden behind a flattened platform, and its ocean views are not confined to a single lookout. The terrain shapes the circulation, the arrangement of rooms and the relationship between the building's different levels.

As coastal developments continue to negotiate the demands of construction, climate and landscape, Crest Nine offers a clear example of what can happen when the site becomes an active part of the design. Its architecture does not attempt to make the hillside disappear. Instead, the building follows its contours, opens itself to the sea and uses courtyards, shade and natural ventilation to shape the experience of the place. The result is a wellness centre whose defining feature may be less the facilities it contains than the way it arrives at them: gradually, along the natural descent of the land.