[A-100] Architecture / Architecture
Architecture
Concept to developed design for houses, apartment blocks, shops, offices, mixed-use buildings and resorts. Layouts that suit the plot, meet the Maldivian planning rules and stay inside the budget.
- Sheet series :
- A-100
- Deliverables :
- 5 documents
- Hire :
- On its own or with other stages
[01] Included
What you get
We start on site with a tape and a camera, not at a screen. The design grows from what the plot allows, what the brief needs and what the budget can carry. In Malé that means the Malé Planning Regulation; in Hulhumalé, the development control regulation that HDC applies; on other islands, the island's approved land-use plan; on a resort island, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation's development rules. Every option we show you has been checked against them.
Measured survey
Existing plot, levels, neighbouring buildings and party walls, trees, the vegetation line on a beach site, and any existing building drawn to scale.
Brief, rules and budget
Rooms, flats or shop units, areas and a cost target agreed in writing, with the planning limits that apply to the plot: land use, height and storeys, setbacks, parking and lifts.
Concept options
Two or three layouts with plans, massing and a rough cost for each.
Developed design
The chosen option worked through: plans, sections, elevations and materials suited to salt, sun and heavy rain.
Approval drawings
The set the city or island council, HDC or the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation needs, with the forms filled in and, where it applies, the EIA screening started.
[02] Sample
When you need it
- —You have a plot and a rough idea, but no drawings yet
- —You need to know how many flats or floors will fit before you buy or build
- —An existing house or building needs extending, adding floors or converting
Outcome
A signed-off design and approval drawings, ready to be developed into a construction set.
[03] Questions
About architecture
How many design options do we get?
Usually two or three concept options. Once you pick one, we develop it rather than starting again, so changes stay quick and cheap.
What can we build on our plot in Malé or Hulhumalé?
It depends on the plot. Malé follows the Malé Planning Regulation, whose seventh amendment, from May 2024, allows up to 10 storeys (30.48 m) in Villimalé on qualifying plots. Hulhumalé's March 2026 regulation sets height by plot size, up to 10 storeys or 30.5 m on the largest plots; it requires a lift above 16.5 m, a ground floor given over to parking above 18.5 m, and no flats on the ground and first floors of buildings over six storeys. We read the rules for your plot before the first sketch.
We are building a house on an island plot. What applies?
The island council's land-use plan and building permit, the Construction Act's rules on registered designers and contractors, and the government's 2024 Resilient Housing Guidance, which recommends minimum construction standards for island houses. If you want rooms for guests, the plot has to qualify for a guesthouse licence from the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation: a residential plot can, while a council-leased plot must be marked for a guesthouse in the approved land-use plan. We check that first.
What limits apply on a resort island?
The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation's development rules set them. Its resort development handbook keeps buildings at least 5 m inland of the vegetation line and limits guest buildings to three storeys or 12 m, with 15 m for back-of-house. A 2023 revision raised the built-up allowance to 50% of the island's land area, counting overwater villas, and set at least 3 m of beach for every guest room. Water villas must stand on stilts that let water and sand move freely. We check the current figures for your island before the first sketch.
Who approves the design?
It depends on the land. In Malé the city council issues building permits, in Hulhumalé HDC does, and on other inhabited islands it is the island or city council, all within the land-use plans set under the Urban Planning and Management Act. On an island leased for tourism, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation approves the drawings and then issues the construction permit. We prepare the drawings and forms, submit them and answer the authority's questions until a decision is made.
Will the project need an environmental impact assessment?
New resorts and many larger projects do, under the Environmental Protection and Preservation Act and the EIA Regulation; smaller projects are screened first. Since March 2026, housing projects and buildings over 10 storeys no longer need one. Cutting trees within 20 m of the shore needs a separate vegetation clearance permit. Where an EIA applies, we coordinate with your registered EIA consultant so the approval keeps pace with the design.
Other architecture services
Start a project
Send us your
island and plot
Tell us what you want to build, attach any drawings you already have and give us a rough budget in MVR. We come back with a fee proposal for the stages you need.