A country’s identity is deeply rooted in brick and stone. Its heritage, resilience, and ambition are reflected in its streets, walls, and buildings. From vernacular architecture and coral stone structures to high-rise buildings, the face of construction in the Maldives has significantly evolved over time. 

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The earliest evidence of lasting construction in the Maldives can be traced back to the coral stone structures from the second century. Surrounded by the sea, corals were once abundant, making it the most convenient material for building. While it is believed that the earliest settlers to the Maldives used timber and coconut thatch to build houses, some of the oldest surviving structures today are coral stone mosques, built using a technique called coral stone carpentry with hirigaa. Although this type of construction is no longer in use today, the mosques depict the fine craftsmanship and artistry of the Maldivian people with their intricate carvings, complex designs, and structures that have survived generations. 

As the global construction industry continued to change with emerging new materials and technologies over the next decades, Maldives, like many other countries, started acquiring new materials, technologies, and styles. By the 1970s, steel, cement, and plywood had begun to replace the clay roofs and limestone masonry. 

In the 1980s, reinforced concrete became popular in the industry with products such as ceramic tiles and electric fans. In the 1990s, the industry was booming with products like aluminium windows and PVC pipes, further elevating the face of construction and design. More and more new construction technologies were introduced in the 2000s, as materials and designs continued to change ever so quickly. 

Houses once built from sticks and mud with thatched coconut palm roofs, soon transformed into stronger structures made from coral stone, and then to cement houses, to five-storey buildings, to skyscrapers. While Male’ City — a jigsaw of high-rise buildings, packed into every inch of the city, populated by over 200,000 people who call it home, the rest of the population are dispersed across less than 200 inhabited islands. Thirty years ago, not one local person would have imagined that a small island like Malé City would have a building as tall as Dharumavantha hospital. Today, similar buildings stand tall across the islands of the Maldives as a testimony to the growing construction landscape of the country.