In the capital of the Indian state of Odisha, the New Delhi-based firm Studio Lotus has built new offices for the Department of Agriculture. As a government building it was conceived at the outset strictly for official use, but the architects proposed to free up the ground level and create a public space that opens up the premises to the city and allows citizens to walk through in the course of their daily comings and goings. The heavy masonry facade minimizes the need for air conditioning through its thermal inertia, and its combination of patterns, textures, and colors evokes the region’s textile tradition as well as its diversity.