Indian Architect and Builder September '15

VOL 29 (1)

SEPTEMBER 2015

www.iabforum.com

INDIAN ARCHITECT & BUILDER

FOCUS Inetriors in Housing Typologies IN CONVERSATION Rachel Neeson AEC OPJG University, Haryana ARCHITECTURE The Courtyards House : Sanjay Puri Architects

EXPLORE

THE DESIGN CONFERENCE

17th - 18th FEBRUARY, 2016 NEHRU CENTRE, MUMBAI

ARCHITECTURE AND THE CITY Architecture | Urbanism | Sustainability

Inaugural Lecture by Pritzker 2013 Laureate

TOYO ITO

The conference intends to create a platform to allude that the ‘City’ is much more than an accumulation of buildings, construction, and architecture – they also comprise public spaces such as parks, squares, streets and alleys that are equally significant components of the urban fabric. The conference will attempt to highlight the urgent need to comprehend the role of the architecture of cities as both agents of change and catalysts of survival to look at the micro and macro level issues of sustainable design for the future of our cities.

Presented by

For more details log onto: www.361degrees.net.in

EXPLORE

VOL 29 (1) | SEPTEMBER 2015 | www.iabforum.com RNI REGISTRATION NO. 46976/87, ISSN 0971-5509 INDIAN ARCHITECT AND BUILDER

Chairman: Jasu Shah Printer, Publisher & Editor: Maulik Jasubhai Shah Chief Executive Officer: Hemant Shetty Editorial: Meghna Mehta, Lavina Bulchandani Email: iabedt@jasubhai.com Design Team: Mansi Chikani, Prasenjit Bhowmick, Kenneth Menezes Subscription: Dilip Parab, Prakash Power Production Team: V Raj Misquitta (Head), Prakash Nerkar, Arun Madye

32

CURRENT

The latest news, events and competitions in architecture and design from India and abroad.

38

POST EVENT

SJAC from Baroda wins the Architectural Competition by MRID.

40

PRODUCTS

Information of state-of-the-art products, from across the globe, which are slick, contemporary and innovative.

SALES Brand Manager: Sudhanshu Nagar Email: sudhanshu_nagar@jasubhai.com

42

IN CONVERSATION

MARKETING TEAM & OFFICES

Integrity and Elegance empower Design In conversation with IA&B, Australian architect Rachel Neeson talks about finding the specifics of sustainability and innovation in architectural design.

46

AEC

The Geometry of an Urban Campus The O P Jindal Global University a project by SPA Design Pvt Ltd is a demonstration of master planning, engineering and construction.

58

FOCUS

Interiors in Diverse Housing typologies This issue of IA&B highlights the various responses in the building of a house corresponding to the context, culture and regionalist character of the locale.

60

ARCHITECTURE

A Placid Abode Entwines with Nature The Castlecrag house by Neeson Murcutt Architects.

78

84

A Sri Lankan Abode The Gunewardena Residence by Channa Daswatte.

The Courtyards House, Rajasthan Sanjay Puri Architects.

68

INTERNATIONAL

A Modern “Kibbutz” House “Kibbutz” House by the Henkin Shavit studio.

74

ACADEMIA

Idea/Place: Houses in Lucknow Shubhrajit Das talks about the necessary aspects of responses to climate and culture in architecture and design.

90

96

INTERIORS A Hillside Habitat The Mimani Residence by Prashant Pradhan Architects.

A Second home, Bhubaneshwar Villas S by Manmeet Arora of Studio Drift.

Cover Image: © Neeson Murcutt Architects

Head Office: JMPL, Taj Building, 3rd Floor, 210, Dr D N Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.

Tel: + 91-22-4037 3636, Fax: +91-22-4037 3635

Mumbai Parvez Memon Taj Building, 3rd Floor, 210, Dr D N Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001.

Tel: + 91-22-4037 3636, Fax: +91-22-4037 3635 Email: parvez_memon@jasubhai.com Delhi: Preeti Singh / Suman Kumar 803, Chiranjeev Tower, No 43, Nehru Place, New Delhi – 110 019 Tel: +91 11 2623 5332, Fax: 011 2642 7404 Email: preeti_singh@jasubhai.com, suman_kumar@jasubhai.com Bengaluru / Hyderabad / Gujarat: Sudhanshu Nagar Mobile: +91 9833104834, Email: sudhanshu_nagar@jasubhai.com Chennai / Coimbatore: Princebel M Mobile: +91 9444728035, +91 9823410712, Email: princebel_m@jasubhai.com Kolkata: Sudhanshu Nagar Mobile: +91 9833104834, Email: sudhanshu_nagar@jasubhai.com Pune: Parvez Memon Mobile: +91 9769758712, Email: parvez_memon@jasubhai.com

Printed & Published by Maulik Jasubhai Shah on behalf of Jasubhai Media Pvt Ltd (JMPL), 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021.

Printed at The Great Art Printers, 25, S A Brelvi Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 and Published from Mumbai - 3rd Floor, Taj Building, 210, Dr D N Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001.

Editor: Maulik Jasubhai Shah, 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021.

Indian Architect & Builder: (ISSN 0971-5509), RNI No 46976/87, is a JMPL monthly publication. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or part, in English or any other language is strictly prohibited. We welcome articles, but do not accept responsibility for contributions lost in the mail.

42

INTEGRITY AND ELEGANCE EMPOWER DESIGN In conversation with IA&B, Australian architect Rachel Neeson talks about architecture being a social responsibility, her approaches to culture and context and finding the specifics of sustainability and innovation in architectural design.

Images: courtesy Neeson Murcutt Architects Pty Ltd

Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015

in conversation

43

© Brett Boardman ↑

Prince Alfred Park and Pool, Sydney.

Rachel Neeson studied architecture at the University of Sydney, graduating with the University Medal in 1993, and completed a Masters of Architecture in Barcelona. She formed Neeson Murcutt Architects Pty Ltd with her late partner Nicholas Murcutt (son of Glenn Murcutt) in 2004. Based in Sydney, the practice deliberately pursues a balance of public projects and residential work, operating in urban, suburban, rural and outback settings across Australia. The work of Neeson Murcutt Architects has been recognised through awards, publications, lectures and exhibitions, including the 2006 and 2008 Venice Biennales, the AIA Sulman Award for the Prince Alfred Park Pool (2014), the AIA Robin Boyd Award for the Castlecrag House (2011), AIA NSW Chapter award for the Stanmore Public School Library (2012) and the AIA NSW Chapter Wilkinson Awards for both the Whale Beach House (2009) and Five Dock House (2007).

IA&B: Your firm Neeson Murcutt Architects, being a legacy to Glenn Murcutt, how would you explain your journey, from the establishment of the firm till today; its progression, hurdles and achievements?

RN: I established Neeson Murcutt Architects with my late husband Nicholas Murcutt after returning from post-graduate study in Barcelona. We effectively merged our separate tiny offices – mine was an office of one! Nick, like his father, had a practice based primarily on single houses, and alterations and additions to single houses. My practice was similarly focused. It is a very common story in Australia for offices to emerge out of small residential commissions for family and family friends. So, each of us had a background in the domestic realm. Joining practices allowed us to continue on this track, but also to actively seek public work. Where the residential work involves an enjoyable intimacy, the public work allows a more explicit conversation with the city that we were keen to have. Besides, it is simply more interesting to be engaged with different project types.

We won our first public commission through invited tender shortly after forming Neeson Murcutt Architects. It was a small public viewing area known as the Shipwreck Lookout in the Sydney Olympic Parklands. A breakthrough for us was being awarded the commission for the Prince Alfred Park and Pool Upgrade, also through invited tender. It was a substantial project both in terms of its scale and also it potential impact on what was an unloved and underutilised part of the city. One of Glenn’s adages that I hold very true is that ‘for every good project there is a very good client.’ The client for the pool, the City of Sydney municipality, was ambitious for the project and very supportive of a young practice working on its first major project.

Paralleling this, a sequence of ambitious private clients allowed us to develop and explore different ideas in relation to ‘the house.’ We were drawn towards questions of density, scale and the suburb, to questions of site and view, and to material exploration.

To read more: http://www.magzter.com/IN/Jasubhai-Media-Pvt.-Ltd./Indian-Architect-&-Builder/Art/

46

THE GEOMETRY OF AN URBAN CAMPUS A project envision by SPA Design Pvt Ltd, the campus complex of the O P Jindal Global University is a demonstration of a perfectly harmonious amalgam of master planning, engineering and technologically forward methods of construction that resonate in every detail of this educational edifice.

Text: Lavina Bulchandani Drawings: courtesy SPA Design Pvt Ltd Images: courtesy Amit Pasricha, Edmund Sumner, Sanjeet Wahi, Spa Design Office Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015

aec

47

architecture | engineering | construction

I have been practicing in India and the subcontinent since 1997. The specific issues of this geographical location made me realise the opportunities and limitations attached to one has to call a “regional practice”. The construction aspect of architecture is never disconnected from the geographic place where one practices. Despite global design companies pretending to be able to construct anything anywhere, India has been an ambiguous if not reluctant to this new kind of technical “colonisation”.

-Stephane Paumier

A

rchitecture can be looked at as a practice of multiple meanings. The architecture of institutions addresses collective meanings in a single endeavour. Innovation comes through the unison of ideas, vision, character and the appropriate design tools. A partnership of vision, availability of materials and skilled labour along with a clear understanding of the patron come together and give rise to economically great projects that are at an urban scale.

Sprawled over an area of 2,000,000sqft the campus for the O P Jindal Global University (OPJGU) at Sonepat is a project designed by Stephane Paumier and Associates. This campus houses a verity of programmatic spaces including a Law School, Business School, School of International Affairs, School of Governance- Auditoria, library, classrooms, tutorial offices, canteen, students housing, faculty housing, sports centre, service block and post office.

Planned on an entirely flat agricultural land, this Greenfield project has no built surround.

Woven within the remains of the mythical Grand Trunk Road that was going through Northern India, from Afghanistan to Burma, the site is at a distance of 10km from the city of Sonepat. The construction of this project was realised is three phases with Larsen & Toubro (phase I), BL Kashyap (phase II) and Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd (phase III) as the contractors for each respective phase.

To read more: http://www.magzter.com/IN/Jasubhai-Media-Pvt.-Ltd./Indian-Architect-&-Builder/Art/

58

Images: Š Brett Boardman Photography Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015

focus

59

INTERIORS IN DIVERSE HOUSING TYPOLOGIES “Architecture cannot be understood without the knowledge of the society it serves.�

- Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson Architecture achieves its goal when it becomes one with its surroundings. Contextual harmony and climate response become rudimentary aspects in the process of planning of a house due to the availability of resources and adaptation to the local culture. Critical regionalism is not simply regionalism in the sense of vernacular architecture. It is a progressive approach to design that seeks to mediate between the global and the local languages of architecture.

Comprehending the fine line between contemporary, modern and traditional practices, planning processes thus derive the functional method to derive an eclectic sense of the space. Subjective in nature, design elements of varied types may derive the ultimate creation to stand in between the old and the new, representing each in its own unique way.

This issue of IA&B highlights the various responses and approaches that architects as well as interior designers take in the building of a house corresponding to the context, culture and regionalist character of the locale. Projects from different parts of India and the world put forth the importance of the responsiveness to this indigenous character which a designer must comprehend to express the appeal of a house as belonging to the region.

Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015

60

A PLACID ABODE ENTWINES WITH NATURE THE CASTLECRAG HOUSE, AUSTRALIA

The house built on the edge of a peninsula, lyrically converses with the surrounding landscape while embracing functionality for its inhabitants.

Text: Meghna Mehta Drawings: courtesy Neeson Murcutt Architects Images: © Brett Boardman Photography

“I am talking about the conservation of materials, the conservation of land, the keeping of old growth forests, the understanding of how we might be able to find a sustainable building” – Glenn Murcutt

T

he house is located on the Castlecrag peninsula, a suburb rich in modern architectural history. Castlecrag was originally planned

by Walter Burley Griffin who was struck by the natural beauty of the Sydney Habour. He emphasised on respecting the environmental character of the site’s landscape and preserving the natural features, which was an original concept at the time.

Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015

The project evolves as a response to three main provocations – Walter Griffin’s Castlecrag, the site itself, and the embedded memory of the owners with it. The designers shared a common interest with the clients about preserving the legacy of Walter Griffin, and the understanding that they will stand in place with the works of celebrated architects Peter Muller, Bill Lucas, Hugh Buhrich and many others.

The site being long and steep, only 15 metres wide, extends almost 100 metres into the public waterfront reserve below. It has three particularly special qualities – a sandstone outcrop that largely

architecture

↑

61

The project continually amplifies interaction with the site.

Sliding doors and screens ‘disappear’ to open rooms’ full breadth to the exterior.

To read more: http://www.magzter.com/IN/Jasubhai-Media-Pvt.-Ltd./Indian-Architect-&-Builder/Art/ Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015

74

IDEA/PLACE: HOUSES IN LUCKNOW

By Shubhrajit Das

Shubhrajit Das discusses about the necessary aspects of responses to climate, context and culture in architecture and design.

B

ack in the early 80’s when we were in school, there were many things we weren’t told or made to do, despite having some of the best teachers one could possibly imagine. Like, early into the design, we were never asked to subdivide our site into zones to place buildings in them to ultimately connect with orthogonal or winding streets. We always thought that is what planners did. Besides, buildings had to connect, with or without roads. We were not usually asked to do ‘case studies’ before start of a design mainly to find faults with others who designed them. We were instead shown some unusual things designers did or details in buildings we chanced upon, either from history, tradition, or present. We were never told that buildings necessarily had to be functional first. We were told instead, why some houses, like, the Robie House, Farnsworth House, and the Villa Savoye, for example, despite being inconvenient to use to the extent of being largely unoccupied, and despite being built during the ‘functional’ era, continued to delight us.

We had barely heard them use the e-word – for energy –that is quite likely the most commonly used word in our vocabulary today besides ‘green’ and ‘sustainability’. Besides, we did not have the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ratings then nor did we have the GRIHA (India’s National Rating System for Green Buildings). So for us, and our teachers, most likely, e was only a letter, and green just a colour. But somehow we were made to realise that if it was difficult to get into a car with its windows drawn in the middle of a summer afternoon, it may be equally difficult being inside a building with huge glass windows facing south or west. And with our knowledge of science, we could reason the extra energy it would need to cool the place. As a result, we remember till date why buildings with large glass windows facing the sun were simply not sustainable.

Back then, we did not quite understand the infinitely scary psychometric charts very well. At least I didn’t. But we were also never asked to orient our buildings in only one possible way based on these charts. For we knew there were other aspects that were equally necessary to consider as well. Instead, we were shown how the sun moved from east to west through south, gradually rising in angle from winter to summer. We were often reminded of the shadows that let us adorn and animate our surfaces unlike some of the cold places in the West. They barely had any sun. Here we could build verandahs in the south that would not only keep out the harsh summer sun but also let the sun deep inside in winter. We were made to understand how ‘jalis’ helped cool our usually hot interiors and how wall articulations and ornaments helped increase surface area and create shadow patterns outside that simultaneously helped our inside remain pleasant through the day.

↑

Volumetric spaces encouraged movement in The Hemant Arora House.

Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015

Through our numerous trips, by observing and questioning what we saw intrigued us, we learnt a lot about Indian traditional architecture.

We understood the idea of spatial layers as our attitude to space making from outside to inside also coincided with our idea of center and periphery. We understood aspects about our movement, often

academia

↑

75

Opening above stairway allows reflected south light and south-west wind into The Devesh Deepak House.

Courtyard

Toilet

Dress

Toilet

Dress

Courtyard Bedroom

Bedroom

Balcony

Balcony

Puja

Study Room

Garage Bedroom

Bedroom

Living room Living Room Dining room

Toilet

Toilet

Kitchen Drawing room

↑

Terrace Bar

PLAN OF THE HEMANT ARORA HOUSE Indian Architect & Builder - September 2015 To read more: http://www.magzter.com/IN/Jasubhai-Media-Pvt.-Ltd./Indian-Architect-&-Builder/Art/