September 2016

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES INCLUDING COVER 102 MUMBAI ` 200 SEPTEMBER 2016 VOL 30 (1)

FOCUS Interiors IN CONVERSATION Stephane Paumier ARCHITECTURE Malik Architecture COMMERCIAL Sameep Padora and associates

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Regional influence on Contemporary Design K-Lagoon, Residence at Alibaug

An environmental edifice built by Malik Architecture amalgamates regional architecture using modern manifestations of materials, design strategies and preservation.

Text: Meghna Mehta Drawings: courtesy Malik Architecture Photographs: courtesy Bharath Ramamrutham Indian Architect & Builder - September 2016

architecture

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he design echoes a deep understanding of centuries of traditional ‘Konkan’ construction techniques albeit interpreted in a contemporary syntax. The site is deeply forested and the final product imposes a minimum impact on the existing flora, without disturbing nature’s equilibrium.

The concept is highly influenced by the form of the site, smoothly catalysing the process of the design. The scattered components and functions of the house have been connected using various design methods while preserving the site’s original characteristics. The client’s requirement demanded an integrated network of water bodies which was over-laid on the generated matrix. This process of layering the water bodies or functions systematically ensured minimal intrusion on to the forested site and introduced a large house, ‘connected’ multiple water bodies and a hierarchy of traditional Indian spaces from the

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formal to the private spaces through a series of courtyards. Deeply shaded verandas and semi-outdoor spaces, repeated throughout the design balance indoor and outdoor spaces.

To further reduce the carbon foot-print on the site, the house has been built using 4 main materials, (3 of which have been used in the region for centuries viz. Stone, Wood and Mangalore Clay Tile) and the 4th – fly-ash blocks which are produced locally. Low emission LED fixtures have been used for lighting the site, which allows minimum electrical consumption.

Based on the firm’s experience of working in the region the use of ‘cavity’ block walls and stone for the load bearing elements was used while for the super-structure wood and clay tile was used. All flooring has been done using natural local stones. As the site is thickly wooded solar power, study determined very little benefit from solar source.

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Local materials cataylsing techniques creating distinguished spaces.

SECTION 1

SECTION 2

SECTION 3

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focus

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Interiors W

ith the rise of the middle class in the late 19 th century, came the need to highlight prosperity and status, which eventually led to the attention drawn towards the discipline of Interior Design. With an aim to break the monotony of catalogued modular houses, interior designers of the 20 th century strived to create spaces that would translate to the characteristics of individual users.

Much like a building contributes to the built environment within its context; interior spaces are responsible for creating liveable and useable conditions, which respond to its end users and vice versa. Through manipulation of spatial volumes, synergetic textures and patterns across various horizontal and vertical surfaces, and salubrious planning solutions- enhanced spaces are created, which aid in uplifting the experience of the user.

This issue of Indian Architect & Builder focuses on various types of interior spaces, including commercial, residential, hospitality and industrial. An analysis on materials, textures, colour schemes, lighting and acoustics, draws out the nuances of the designing process, which are responsible for creating functional environs. The projects selected are thus, models of a pragmatic and simultaneously aesthetic expression of design.

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residential

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Art lucidly Impacts Architectural Expression A Pathy Residence, Coimbatore.

An architect’s imaginative yet meticulous approach towards designing a house for an art connoisseur.

Text: Meghna Mehta Drawings: courtesy SPA Design Pvt Ltd Photographs: courtesy Amit Pasricha

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he house, conceived for an art collector, has been designed as a “machine” of colour and light, a place for meditation. In a square plot of 30 m x 30 m, the house is approximately a square of 20 m x 20 m that occupies the center. To compensate for the lack of garden depth, the plan has been designed like a jigsaw puzzle piece with carved-in courtyards, terrace gardens and a swimming pool. The outdoor comes inside the house, bringing light to its heart. The central self-supported spiral staircase is lit by a skylight bringing in a mystical allure at the conceptual design core of the house.

The plan has been designed as a pinwheel figure. The garden level is composed of 4 rooms orienting to different directions. The boundary wall, clad in laterite stone, collects the garden sculptures in its back drop screen, as well as an enclosed tropical garden in the center of the city. The plan also defines the garden use from the entrance side, outdoor dining, evening garden, and pool side garden, each with a different character. The part use and play of strip windows and use of colours is a unique and an adaptation of the Mondrian colours also used

by Corbusier in most of his buildings.

The first floor focuses on 4 screen walls that reveal the light and time of the day. Each solar orientation is enhanced with a specific colour: Yellow for morning light on the East, Red for mid-day light on the South, Orange for evening light on the West and Green for indirect light on the North. The coloured ceramic tiles on the façades reflect the sunlight on the inner face of the suspended screen wall, according to the time of the day, the 9 m wide walls get irradiated with bright colour in succession as an homage to the perceptions of light of Mark Rothko and James Turell. The red pool appears to come deep inside the house like a tong, implying that the activity of swimming is a part of the art of living.

The outer projected grey plaster metaphorically gives an elephant skin protection to the white inner sanctum of the house. The project is based Indian Architect & Builder - September 2016

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CRAFT Deli-View from the corridor.

Sympathetic Disparities CRAFT Deli

The fine dining restaurant, designed by sP+a, stands as a celebration of the food industry, with the creation of elegant spaces which are in contrast to the trends of mall culture.

Text: Dhwani Shanghvi Drawings: courtesy sP+a Images: courtesy Kunal Bhatia, Studio KB

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RAFT Deli, designed by Sameep Padora & Associates, is located at the Phoenix Market City mall in Mumbai. With an aim to evade the inimical characteristic placelessness associated with mall designs, the gourmet restaurant is conceptualised around an intervening succession of pavilions between the corridor and the interior space.

Spanning across the curvilinear glass edge of the corridor, and perceived as an arcade, the pavilions are composed of horizontally placed wooden slats, which are stacked together and pivoted along the axis of the edge. The profile of the arcade thus created, generates alcoves, whose depth determines the size of the seating booths. Tucked between individual bays of the cloistered fringe, the cosy and intimate ambience of the booths affords privacy to the visitors and ensures a Indian Architect & Builder - September 2016

spacious circulation space. The wooden arcade, which partly extends as a canopy over the bar counter, creates an amiable mood in the otherwise monochromatic interior of the restaurant. The flamboyant red upholstered booths further add a dash of vibrancy to the restaurant; and balance the colour scheme of the space. The glass façade, halfway along the depth of the arcade, stands as an ambivalent element, which simultaneously separates and connects the patrons of the restaurants from the passers-by in the corridor outside.

Counterpoising the sequestered booths, the open plan of the restaurant accommodates a centrally placed serving bar and an open kitchen, which affords the patrons an opportunity to engage with the culinary process of cooking, plating and serving.

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Patisserie overlooking the booth.

Alongside the bar is a section reserved for casual seating, which consequently leads to an alfresco dining area behind the bar. With an alluring composition of suspended LED bulbs and vivid flowering plantations, the outdoor seating overlooks Dublin Square, and alludes to a Parisian Café where visitors can linger for hours and observe passers-by, and the activities of the plaza fronting it.

In addition to the dining service, the deli also accommodates a patisserie. Themed around the concept of a gastronomic expression, the design incorporates gourmet food items like bags of pasta, cookie jars and blocks of cheeses as décor to elevate the culinary experience.

The restaurant is thus perceived as an instance of decadence and vivacity, which concurrently consents and disregards the clichéd ethos of malls.

FACT FILE: Project Name : Location : Completion of Project : Architect : Design Team :

Contractor :

CRAFT Deli Mumbai, India 2016 Sameep Padora & Associates Shravanthi Kumar, Aparna Dhareshwar, Nitisha Raje, Sanam Bauva Samjay Baikerikar

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General view of the building.

Buoyant in Industrial Boundaries Manufacture Berluti, Italy

Interiors in industrial structures usually are hard to go with aesthetical values; Barthélémy Griño Architectes have endowed this manufacturing workshop with minimal and refined interior design.

Text: Divya Pai Drawings: courtesy Barthélémy Griño Architectes Photo: courtesy Arnaud Schelstraete

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outh of Ferrara, on the fertile and meticulously manicured plain of the Po River in Italy- here the two main economic uses of the valley are for industry and for agriculture, both major uses. Amidst the orchards, stands new Berluti manufacture of luxury shoemaking, which does not resemble itself like the usual other industrial edifice. This workshop is not a factory, but rather a genuine manufacturing industry.

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The intelligence of hands and the transmission of gestures are echoed in the care taken with the details of the building’s construction.

When one attempts to envision an industrial area, the creative visual sense ends thinking about huge machinery and disturbing volumetric massing in its interiors. To reform and break the usual monotony of

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Entrance and monumental staircase towards the office areas.

The workshop space has used natural light to filter the space and keep the energising working flow in it. Huge opening for production area has bonded the exterior of landscapes with the interior spaces without and disruption in its view. This cuts the typical indoor industrial pattern of encapsulating the major production areas with visual bearers and keeping it detached from the outer surroundings. Keeping the colour shades in white, the brightness and energising presence can be seen even in the remote corners of this workshop. The timber work blends and complements itself in all shades of white and reflects out ethnically in this project.

The planners have taken these primary factors into consideration while designing; sustainability, quality, comfort of workspaces, particularly with generalisation of natural ventilation and lighting, strong inertia of the envelope, use of natural materials, compactness of construction, photovoltaic panels and control of energy consumption which is 27% below the mentioned national levels. While covering all these factors, the monotony of a stereotype industrial structure has been expunged, replaced with an aesthetically evolved and fairly evaluated design by the planners.

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Project Name Location Client Design Lead Architects Total Area Project Estimate Structural Engineer Civil contractors Electrical contractors Initiation of the project Completion of the project

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Manufacture Berluti Ferrara, Italie Manifattura Berluti s r l , Ferrare Ludovic Masson Barthélémy Griño Architectes Sas 7,890 sq m 12 500 000 € without tax free Rfr, Paris Carron Cav. Angelo s p a , San Zenone degli Ezzelini Marighelli s r l, Ferrara June 2012 January 2015

Bureaux.

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The meeting area dramatising itself as a mini version of an amphitheatre.

An Audacious Outlook Truly Madly Office-Cafe

Studio Wood designers have transformed the art space into a commercial office cafe interior, aligning the clients beliefs by fusing innovative concepts in their work culture.

Text: Divya Pai Drawings: courtesy Studio Wood Photo: courtesy Arvind Hoon

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onverting an art gallery into an organised commercial space asks for major internal changes. To begin with, the designers had to initiate their plans with the inherited darkness observed in the primary version of that area and source in natural light to filter into the space while giving a rejuvenating natural exterior view. Delhi falls on the brighter and sunny side of the Indian climate during summers.

Designers have considered these climatic conditions and accordingly have arranged the openings for their client. The client had specified the number of people working and expected segments yet wanted a visually open working space. The 5000 square foot space of Truly Madly was segmented into three zones as per their requirements, Indian Architect & Builder - September 2016

namely ‘UnRavel’ - the working space, ‘UnSingle’- the conference area and ‘UnWind’ - the basement cum cafeteria.

The planners emerged with the concept of ‘finding love anywhere’ while putting up the layout of involving their outdoor ambience and blending the interiors accordingly. As one enters into the building, the first glimpse is that of a street-like view completely filled with greens, signages and a strategically parked bicycle, giving the individual a feel of an 18 th century romance with this theme. On the same plane there lies a double height area with a metaphorical window and words in Shakespearean English adorned on the wall. There are two major

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Reception area boldly emphasising minimal yet contemporary style.

window openings placed on two façades which gave filled the dark spaces with natural lights and brought in the energy it lacked. The real effect in their project is that in its ceiling-scape; inspired by a growing tree, it depicts the rapid growth of the dating application.

The acrylic pendant lights, spots and tracks are all suspended from this royal blue structure.

Towards a bright sunny corner in the conference space, they have carved out a semi-casual meeting area for 4 to 6 persons. The main wall in this room is enhanced with 4 x 3 grid letterboxes painted in white on a white wall for a subtle design experience. Ahead of this space lies a floating box-like structure that serves as the main boardroom and could fit up to 14 persons. Along the main boarding room are three mini meeting rooms made out of glass, chipboard and quirky vinyls. These rooms are titled as “Get a room 1, 2 & 3”, which crisply communicate the fun, warm and young culture of the organisation.

The planning of the entire organisation is meant from the youth point of view where there happens to be constant change and their energies for working productivity needs to be refilled. There are many small and large punctures included to retain the curiosity of the space and create work space compatibility as per their client’s conditions. The interiors bring in a fresh wave for the youth to be constantly creative with all the design elements included for their functioning.

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Project Name Location Area Completion of the project Interior Design Client

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Truly Madly Office-Cafe New Delhi, India 464.5 sq m 2015 Studio Wood Truly Madly Matchmakers pvt Ltd

A niçhe to work yourself up.

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Exotic Pochampally

Samruddha Mogal through this photo essay portrays the tradition of silk in the Deccan plateau and its handloom endeavour.

Text: Krushna Rathi Photographs: courtesy Samruddha Mogal

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pread over an attractive corner of the Deccan plateau, Pochampally is a well-known silk weaving centre located near Hyderabad.

Known for its major part in the huge, massive and magnificent ‘Bhoodaan movement’ which freedom fighter Bharatratna Vinoba Bhave started from this very place, it is a small idyllic village where people are busy making patterns and designs. The craft has earned a reputation worldwide and a glimpse at the dexterous village folk explains why this enduring tradition has not only survived but also thrived. Pochampally is an interesting collage of tradition, history, heritage, modernity and is widely known for Pochampally Saree.

Surrounded by hills, tanks and ponds, and lush green fields, spread-out silk wraps, neera tapping from palm trees, mat-making women, opensky chatrashala houses, a perennially full tank, hills, temples, Vinoba Mandir - Bhoodaan Ashram, and cultural complexes, Pochampally

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makes up for an interesting multi-layered settlement. A cluster of 80 villages, Pochampally has traditional looms, whose pattern and designs are centuries-old.

Today this Silk City, which is more of a cottage industry, is home to more than 10,000 weaving families in 100 villages. Most of Pochampally’s households are involved in the laborious craft of an 18-step sequence of tying and dyeing, creating the popular ‘Ikkat fabric’. The neat lanes dotted with colourful houses in vernacular style form a perfect background for the creative Ikkat imagery and beautiful patterns which brings connoisseurs from all over the world to this little village. The houses with small courtyards, tiled roofs and beautiful welcoming verandahs still form the soul of the village as much as the looms they hold.

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Samruddha Mogal He is a third generation graduate from his family from Sir JJ College of Art & Architecture, Mumbai in 1996. He also had a solo exhibition “Light & Shadows in Architecture� of his photo paintings at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in Year 2014.

He is a Nashik based practicing architect and also visiting faculty for design at NDMVPS College of Architecture since 2002. He is also a life member of Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and enjoys travelling and architectural study tours with students and fellow professionals.

Space Frames investigates issues of architecture and environment through the medium of photography. To contribute, write to us at iabedt@jasubhai.com or to the curator Dr Mathew at dr.djmathew@gmail.com.

Indian Architect & Builder - September 2016