<p>This study explores how residents in India engage in context-driven material improvisation, popularly known as jugaad, to overcome functional fixedness and generate architectural solutions. Data collection combined ethnographic fieldwork, participant interviews, and photo-documentation. Drawing on 12 in-depth case studies and employing grounded thematic analysis, the study identifies distinct “material logics” used to reinterpret and repurpose everyday materials. These findings reveal how informal builders leverage embodied reasoning, communal memory, and iterative experimentation to adapt space and structure. These logics cluster into five higher-order themes: (i) observation based on affordances rather than labels; (ii) repetition and imitation supported by social learning; (iii) trial-and-error combined with embodied confirmation; (iv) cultural and situational framing associations. The findings show that commonly cited factors in informal construction, such as affordability, availability, portability, ease of DIY use, symbolic meaning, and social acceptance, help explain why materials are chosen. However, these factors do not explain how people move beyond the conventional uses of those materials. To fill this gap, the study introduces the idea of a shared and often unspoken system of practical knowledge, creating link through observations or memories, and simple rules that guide people reinterpret and adapt materials. The concept offers architects, planners, and policy-makers a clearer way to recognise and work with community expertise to support more flexible and inclusive urban development.</p>