Gandhinagar, Gujarat | 2018
In the BSF campus of Gandhinagar, the Swadhyay Reading Room, designed for the children of BSF wards, sits nestled amidst a beautiful green canopy. Mimicking the ancient ashram tradition of studying under the trees, the simple, relatable form, both in terms of its spatial arrangement as well as its structural form, adds a layer of cover to the vibrant setting.
The 160 square meter project was constructed in a short span of ten weeks, made possible by the efforts of a dedicated construction team, and a design that is optimised for speed.
The building comprises of two parts: a heavy, articulated ground and a light, traditional yet modern eccentric shade perched upon it. The undulating brick plinth clad with kadappa stone holds users close to ground, merging with built-in tables and benches. A ventilated roof sits atop a steel framework, with extended eaves to protect the plinth, and a series of geothermal earth tubes draw air in through the ground, maintaining the structure's coolness. In addition to that, a mezzanine floats above brightly coloured bookshelves, accessed through a camouflaged stair. Planks of pine wood, hemmed in with rope nets for relaxed reading, adds to the playful vibe. As the dusk approaches, the vivid space inside reveals itself through the sheltered glass, inviting the children in, to read.
** Received The Merit List Citation for 2018-2019 **
Photography credits: Sachin Bandukwala
Design Team: Melissa Smith, Sachin Bandukwala, Nabajyoti Dutta Choudhury, Rupal Rathore
Structural Consultancy: StrucArt Design Consultants
MEP Consultancy: -
Contractor: ID Projects Pvt Ltd
Carpentry: Omprakash Suthar
Vapi, Gujarat | 2021
In order to create a sense of stability and permanence in a primary home, the core idea was to bring the mass of the space to the ground and the walls by treating the furniture, lighting, cladding, and other elements appropriately while keeping the ceilings lighter.
The idea gradually developed into bringing the interior volume of the home together via natural wood as the fundamental element.
The reclaimed Valsad teak became the space-defining element, starting from creating dynamic volumes in the living area to the vertical, floating, beam-like light fixtures which are housed in the double-height space, the wooden elements are introduced to establish a visual connection throughout.
Vapi, Gujarat | 2021
A 3BHK row house unit among 500+ similar units needs hyper customization to stand out from the neighbours, at least inside. A brass and wood handrail, teakwood bench ... pieces of a rich interior.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat 2013 - 2020
As a project, the Chidambaram House gracefully demonstrates the opportunities that a deep engagement with time offers. It is an evolving place, layering phases of history onto its structure, shifting as its family matures and grows. When the site was first acquired, a small Art Deco structure stood in the land. Behind it, the original house designed by Gira Sarabhai, opened toward the Sabarmati River. Over time, Sarabhai’s house has expanded, extending back toward and finally wrapping all the way around the old Art Deco structure. Architects of varied approaches have brought new life and ideas to the place. What we have contributed to the layered campus is a project in three phases that uses the existing Art Deco Structure as an armature, and reaches out into the trees to develop a light, airy home within a home for the family and their dog.
PHASE 1: FLOATING A NEW TERRACE (2013-2014)
A new open terrace, hovering between openings of the old Art Deco facade, reclaims the space above an old garage for a three-sided elevated court. The steel frame rests on a raised beam, and projects over the existing facade, anchored in the ground below, to create a shaded arcade at the ground level, and a railing above. Simple teakwood planks, polished with linseed oil and water, complete a surface that floats in the branches of an old neem tree, flanked by a row of marble shelves.
PHASE 2: RECLAIMING AN ART DECO VERANDAH (2015-2016)
The glass-faced verandah warmly operates as a visual connection between the house and the open terrace. Delicate teakwood frames touch ornate columns lightly, subtly articulating a threshold while amplifying the beauty of the view. Inside, a sleek white light tray suspended from brass pipes ties together the stylized art deco elements to create a contemporary space (while deftly concealing added pipes).
PHASE 3: BUILDING ROOMS IN THE TREES (2018-2020)
Floating out beyond the building, above wall and walkway, a new set of light-filled rooms hangs from a steel truss, winding around aged trees. A thin floor plate turns the corner to a lit ceiling below, highlighting the delicate columns from which it is suspended, no larger than the straight trunk of the young Aso Palav growing through the children’s courtyard. Volumes open at the corner, peering into the leaves through alternating sheets of glass and marble. Washed with dappled light, warm Jaisalmer stone flooring anchors cozy rooms inside.
The Bio Series derives its forms from the logic of natural structures: from the dynamics of a swaying field grass to the inverted growth pattern of the banyan, these elements respond to nature’s ingenuity, translated in brass and wood. This series was a part of the installations at Raw Collaborative 2018 held at the ATMA building.
Vadvai
Open wooden niches suspended among brass branches evoke a banyan tree’s gravity defying grasp of the earth it uplifts.
Saanthgaanth
Segmented brass rods, linked at multiple ‘knots’, borrow the logic of reinforcement in the bamboo shoot. They join together to hold a series of elegantly floating shelves.
The home is a play of quiet corners and lively moments, the material and lighting are its backdrop. Traditional lacquer crafts, wood and steel meld together, inhabiting this two-storey penthouse. The narrative is interspersed as pops of colour in otherwise calm spaces.
A mechanical drum dome hangs in the dining room, the material playing off natural light. The deer legged dining table is paired with metal backrest chairs. Steel plates rest on scaffolding staircases. Brass, metal and lacquer leave their traces throughout the penthouse.
Ahmedabad, India 2016 - 2017
The law office adapts an aging, dingy row house to create a narrow new work space full of light. Lines between furniture, interior and architecture are blurred to generate a seamless habitable space, structured by the demolition of walls and insertion of a steel frame, which stabilizes the opened structure. A bi-centric spiral staircase of steel fills the cut-out that allows light to fall through all the floors. The work space extends above the building under the shade of an enveloping roof, which also ties the new framework and completes the operation.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat 2017
This corporate office for a precision engineering office spreads over 2000 sq m on two floors. The program spans director, board and support staff, with a conference room for 20, director's cabin, smaller scale meeting rooms and semi private offices, with cublic seating for approximately 30 people. Courtyard, dining, pantry and bathroom spaces fill out the support services.
The project is envisioned as a seamless flow of spaces which blur divisions and connect openly designed spaces as they wrap around a central core stair. A courtyard between boardroom and director's cabin is lightly covered by an inverted pitched roof trellis which filters diffuse light into both spaces and gathers rain during the monsoon.The color palette shifts with changing functions of the spaces, tied by a common offset of grey, which ties together the chromatic surprise.
photo credit: Vishal Mehta
Deesa, Gujarat 2016 – 2017
Saraswati Restaurant is an institution in the old town of Deesa. The story of its impeccable food reached far and wide, fueled by the fumes of bubbling puris in cast iron pots, and mouthwatering bataka nu shaak made from only the choicest of potatoes. For the past 50 years it has served the market town and its surrounding farmers a delectable set of dishes often at an astonishing rate of 3000 people per day in a space that seats 24 at a time. We helped them celebrate their anniversary by renovating their aging space.
In the spirit of their menu's streamlined simplicity, the design is anchored on a cleansing of the space, to create a single, open room where once there were two along a passage. To do this, a load bearing wall is replaced with a steel column and beams that that double as a junction for intermediate storage in service. The combination of increased occupiable volume with a robust, sturdy granite led to the blurred lines between definitive functions, and amalgamated a unison of storage within structure, furniture within space, food within sanctuary.
Now, as cartesian void, demarcated by stone, melts away to its fluid counterparts, the farmer still finds himself juxtaposed between the urban chaos of the abutting street and a place of appetising repose.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat 2014 - 2015
This bistro sits at the centre of Ahmedabad, in a busy university district. Located on the corner, this renovation was about transforming a dated café interior into a fresh new space that could carry intimate parties and large groups alike, with open framed shelves to mark cozy pockets. The major move was to bring the outdoor in, carried out through the removal of the corner walls to create a verandah, itself connected to the interior through a glass partition hidden in the shelves that organize the space. The language of the shelves, polished inside, is painted and carried out to the verandah, wrapping around a tight pocket in a bid to connect services and the bar to the outer edge. The shelves open at one point to allow the puncture of a wax polished, cast concrete bar that curves into the dining space inside.
