A thick concrete wall can keep your house cool. Steel will make your house hot unless you insulated the walls well. Insulated walls don't work very well in a flood zone. When they get wet, you need to tear them apart. You will need concrete for the foundation most likely unless you are driving steel pylons. There is probably a combination of the two that will suit your needs best. It would be helpful to know what you want to achieve by using steel. There are advantages to both. Steel floors can be cantilevered further. It is easier to make bigger window openings. Floor and roof spans can be lighter and quicker to build with steel, but the roof will get hotter and therefore need good insulation and need to be well ventilated. These are just general assumptions of certain building practices so that you know what to ask people where you live. The practices and resources vary from place to place and building something for a specific purpose can change the benefits of one material or the other. My best guess is that you will probably want to use both.

Congratulations to all of you. Its a wonderful platform to be on and you all are doing a great Job. My favourite Design Style is 'Minimal'. I just have this strong connection with simple, subtle and elegant things. Cheers:)

Warlike Tiger, Good Morning. Whats your dilemma. Is it the budget, design plan or availability of a professional to do it? Either of that would require a site study, without that it is not possible to estimate the plans or costs or even a realistic design plan. If you are keen , you can search for professionals in this forum and contact them or leave your number for interested architects to call you. However, this idea of building the second story and then breaking the lower floor walls is not feasible. It is a hilly area and you should be all the more cautious with the foundation. Hope this helps! Amit CORNERSTONE DESIGNS Bangalore.

Hi. Please contact us if you are keen on formal advice. From what little you have commented, I am inclined to imagine you are not up for a 15 bed house or resort. On the contrary you would be looking at more of a dormitory hostel for travellers with all amenities. There are several such hostels in Europe and US which I have used personally, so I can probably help design something similar. If you have unlimited land and budget of course you could build anything!