As urbanization accelerates, particularly in developing countries like India, the challenge of achieving sustainable cities (SDG Goal 11) becomes increasingly urgent. Currently, green building ratings serve as essential tools for assessing sustainability; however, their application remains limited to large-scale commercial projects within India. Meanwhile, the rich traditional knowledge embedded in Indian vernacular architecture, which has promoted sustainability for centuries, is gradually fading. Despite their differing approaches to sustainability, both green building ratings and traditional architectural practices offer valuable insights for developing a foundation for sustainable residential design in India. This paper explores the potential for integrating green building principles with traditional sustainable practices, focusing on residential construction in Chennai. By examining key differences and commonalities between these two approaches, the research highlights comparative design, material selection, energy efficiency, and climate responsiveness. It was found that the vernacular residence exhibited a maximum temperature difference of 10.4 °C from the outdoors, whereas the maximum temperature difference recorded for the Green Residence was 6.2 °C. On the other hand, the green building demonstrated an energy saving of over 50% more than the Vernacular Building, based on utility bills from October to December 2023. Each of these advantages presents an opportunity to bridge the gaps and form an integrated approach to sustainable housing. Furthermore, an online questionnaire survey on user preferences indicates strong public support for combining traditional and green building elements, with 71.4% of respondents favoring this approach. The findings underscore the importance of raising awareness about both green building standards and traditional practices, advocating for future research to create culturally sensitive and environmentally responsible strategies that leverage the strengths of both systems. This approach not only addresses the urgent housing crisis—estimated at a shortfall of 19 million units in India (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in Report of Technical Group on Urban housing shortage (TG12) 2012–17. Ministry of Housing and Urban poverty Alleviation, Government of India, 2017)—but also contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the country.