The Jaali, Reconsidered
A jaali is not a pattern. It manages light, air and sight, and it works only when it is designed for the wall it sits on.
The pattern on the wall is the shadow of the screen. That is what the screen is for.
Two pictures in this article are AI-generated concept illustrations of fictional places. The photograph of the slatted screen shows a completed Team Design project, and the diagram was drawn for this article.
Jaali design is having a moment. Perforated screens turn up on apartment blocks, restaurants and Instagram feeds, usually chosen from a catalogue of patterns. That is a pity, because the pattern is the least important thing about one. A jaali is a device for managing light, air and sight. The pattern is what is left when the device has been designed well.
This guide reconsiders it. It looks at what a jaali does, what decides whether one works, the family of screens it belongs to, and the ways it goes wrong. It builds on the short section in our piece on making a modern home feel Indian.
What is a jaali? A screen, not a pattern
A jali is a perforated stone or latticed screen that lets light and air through while keeping out sun and rain, and it gives privacy. [1] Yatin Pandya notes that it is a climatic device before it is a decorative one, and that the climate shapes it: in humid Kerala the openings are larger, to move more air, and in dry Rajasthan the patterns are denser, to cut the sun. [1]
The best-known jali in India makes the point from the other direction. The twin "Tree of Life" jalis at the Sidi Sayyid mosque in Ahmedabad were carved in 1573, each from a single slab of stone. [2] They are famous as images, but they are windows. Take the screen away and what is left is a hole in a wall.
What decides whether it works
Three things decide how a screen behaves, and none of them is the pattern. The first is how open it is: the share of the wall that is hole and the share that is solid. The second is how deep it is, because depth is what stops a high sun while letting a low one in. The third is which way it faces. A screen on a west wall in Mumbai is doing a different job from the same screen on a north wall.
The diagram shows the principle in section. A steep, high sun runs into the depth of the screen. A low sun gets through and is spread and softened. Breeze moves through the openings. A straight line of sight passes, while a steep one does not, which is why you can look out at eye level and still be shielded from the street above.
A 2025 simulation study of perforated shading screens in Cairo, Riyadh and Kuching, on south and west façades, found that screens optimised for their conditions beat conventional fins on daylight and solar gain. In the best cases they more than doubled useful daylight and cut solar gain by up to 88 percent. [3] These are best-case figures from a computer model, in cities that are not in India, so do not carry them over to your wall. The useful part is where the result came from: tuning the openings, depth and orientation, not choosing a pretty pattern.
Seeing out, not in
Privacy is the quality people most want from a jaali and least understand. In daylight a screen is easier to see out of than into, because the brighter side is hard to see across from the darker one. From inside a shaded room, the garden shows through the lattice. From the bright garden, the same lattice reads as a surface. The effect reverses at night, when the lights are on inside, so a jaali is a daytime privacy device, and a curtain or a blind still has a job to do.
A family, not a single thing
"Jaali" covers a family of screens, and the material changes both the character and the cost.
Stone is the classical form, carved in single slabs, as at Sidi Sayyid. [2] At our Raipur wedding venue we carried the Rajasthani vocabulary of arches, carved stone and jaali into a pavilion in a contemporary material language, and the line to hold was to avoid pastiche.
Brick is the democratic one. Laurie Baker used perforated brick patterns to make "playful patterns of light and air" in tropical homes while keeping privacy. [4] His rat-trap bond, a cavity wall, cut brick use by 25 percent. [4] Baker's work is a reminder that a good jaali does not have to be costly.
Timber gives the finest grain. At the National Business Centre in Bandra Kurla Complex, the walnut lattice is a direct translation of the pinjrakari woodwork tradition of Kashmir, made by craftsmen brought from the Valley.
And a screen need not be a lattice at all. In a Mumbai apartment, the Rahul & Sanjana Residence, a white slatted screen separates the bedroom from the dressing area. It is open enough to feel connected and structured enough to feel separate.
Where it goes wrong
Most failures are not about taste.
- It faces the wrong way. A screen on the wrong side of the house blocks light you wanted and does nothing about sun you didn't.
- It is too dense. Close the openings to gain privacy and you lose the daylight, the view and the breeze that were the reason for the screen, and the lights and the air conditioning go on instead.
- It was copied from another climate. The pattern that suits dry Rajasthan is not automatically right for humid Mumbai. [1]
- It cannot be cleaned. Screens collect dust, and in the monsoon they can gather moss and damp. If nobody can reach it, it will not stay beautiful.
- Nobody checked the practical rules. Ask your architect how a screen affects security, safety and any fire requirements near exits.
Making it well
A screen asks for more care in the making than almost anything else on a facade, because every unit is seen. Whoever makes it should supply a full-size sample of a small section, and you should look at it in daylight, at the wall's own orientation, before the whole wall is ordered.
Craft matters. At the BKC centre, the walnut was worked by Srinagar artisans, brought from the Valley. At Raipur, the detail needed care to stay on the right side of pastiche. Both are reminders that the quality of a screen is decided in the making, not the drawing.
Ask your architect
- What is the screen for: sun, privacy, air, view, or all four?
- Which way does it face, and what does it do to the light at different hours?
- How open is it, how deep is it, and why?
- Who will make it, and can we see a full-size sample in daylight?
- How will it be cleaned and maintained, especially after the monsoon?
A closing thought
A jaali earns its place by what it does to the light, the air and the view. Choose it for that, and the pattern will mostly take care of itself.
To see how we work with craft and detail, look at the projects above or read about our process. Screens shape the inside of a room as much as the outside, so see our work as luxury interior designers in Mumbai, and what an architect costs if you are budgeting.
Questions about jaali design
What is a jaali?
A jaali, also spelled jali, is a perforated stone or latticed screen that lets light and air through while keeping out sun and rain, and it gives privacy. [1] It is a climatic device before it is a decorative one.
Does a jaali give privacy?
In daylight, yes. A screen is easier to see out of than into, because the brighter side is hard to see across from the darker one. The effect reverses at night, when the lights are on inside, so a curtain or a blind still has a job to do.
What is a jaali made of?
Stone is the classical form, carved in single slabs, as at the Sidi Sayyid mosque in Ahmedabad. [2] Brick is the democratic one, used by Laurie Baker for perforated patterns of light and air. [4] Timber gives the finest grain, as in the walnut lattice at our National Business Centre in Bandra Kurla Complex. A screen need not be a lattice at all.
Does a jaali work in a Mumbai apartment?
It can, if it is designed for the wall it sits on. How open the screen is, how deep it is and which way it faces matter more than the pattern. A screen on a west wall in Mumbai does a different job from the same screen on a north wall. A pattern copied from dry Rajasthan is not automatically right for humid Mumbai. [1]
How do I choose a jaali design?
Start with what the screen is for: sun, privacy, air, view, or all four. Choose the pattern last. Ask whoever makes it for a full-size sample of a small section, and look at it in daylight, at the wall's own orientation, before the whole wall is ordered.
Terms used in this guide
- Aperture: an opening. Here, the holes in a screen.
- Jaali (jali): a perforated screen that lets in light and air while giving shade and privacy.
- Orientation: the direction a wall or window faces.
- Pastiche: work that imitates the style of another without adding anything of its own.
- Pinjrakari: the traditional Kashmiri latticework in timber.
- Rat-trap bond: a way of laying bricks on edge that leaves a cavity in the wall, using fewer bricks and improving insulation.
Sources
[1] Wikipedia. Jali, including the views of Yatin Pandya.
[2] Sahapedia. Sidi Sayyid's Jali, Ahmedabad.
[4] ArchDaily. Laurie Baker's Legacy and the Democratization of Indian Architecture, 23 June 2025.
Research accessed 1 October 2026. Descriptions of our own projects come from their project pages. The simulation study is a computer model, not a measurement of real buildings.