Stone
Granite & hard stone
The igneous heavyweights: granite in the south, basalt in the Deccan. Quarried in slabs and blocks that outlast every other part of the building.
How it behaves
Enormous thermal mass and near-immortality; cool underfoot and slow to warm. Its embodied energy is in the cutting and moving, so using it near the quarry and reusing old stone is the honest way.
Where it belongs
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka · The Deccan
In a modern project
Local stone plinths and floors that never need replacing; salvaged granite columns and slabs reused structurally.