Workshop with Sankalpa
The aim was to design a structure with mild steel that embodies the concept of heaviness and ecstasy. We understood heaviness in architecture through the ideas of massing, high density and low height; whereas ecstasy came through the ideas of play of space and light, design of the detail and our personal ideas of happiness. Looking at Juniya Ishigami’s Kanagawa library, we agreed that being in nature and among trees were a source of ecstasy for us. To bring this experience of the forest, we designed a tree-like module that repeats randomly throughout the given area. This module is a 100 mm dia. MS steel column of a circular section sitting on a concrete footing. It branches into 80 mm dia. as it goes up to hold a pre-fabricated concrete block of 1500 x 1500 x 100 (mm.). These branches are welded to the column and bolted to the prefab concrete block above. The module is further of two heights 2500 mm. and 2250 mm. that overlaps and staggers to form slits for light and ventilation. These light conditions and the experience of the forest are aimed at bringing in the feeling of ecstasy whereas the low-laying heights, play of density and the masses overhead are aimed to imbue heaviness in the inhabitant.
Workshop with Manjunath
Rethinking steel and timber joineries and structure, enhancing the space by closely looking at the aesthetics of the connections.
In this workshop we were essentially looking at understanding steel as a material. With this we were also thinking of assemblies of different materials, but by the virtue of their material property.
The material property here dictates the form and the geometry of the structure.
The central argument of the exercise was to challenge conventional ways of construction by using thick members and think through fragmenting the elements to make lighter sections. In order to do this, the design process would include a deeper understanding of the material and its several possibilities of joineries. Steel as a material allows it to be intertwined with each other in many ways. This forms a “weave”. The weave is a pattern which can be altered in ways in which it can afford to create dynamic forms with intricate details. A more metaphorical understanding of the same strikes when Manjunath says, “Don't build a building, grow a building”. The idea of growth here talks about the smallest details which come together to create a form so gradual in its disposition that it shifts the experience of that space altogether.
Along with the geometry and aesthetics, the stability is also a key element of a structure. However the stability can be achieved by gradual decrease in angles and by bundling the fragmented elements in stable forms but also by losing their rigid nature.
