Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja Master of Architecture (M.Arch.) applicant ramanujagreat@gmail.com 0091 9538417649
Janasya faces
places
spaces
Sanskrit: ‘of the living being, and ‘of the common man’ Janasya typifies my approach to design. When I approach design, I contextualise with the face, the space and the place.
CONTENTS
4. OF THOSE MARGINALISED: SUSTAINABLE HOUSING FOR FARMERS, MALUR
Picture credits: Jordi Esteve, Jürg Grunder
1. OF THE DISENFRANCHISED: HIVETTE, PAN BANGALORE
5. OF THOSE CHALLENGING CONVENTION: RESIDENCE AT GANGANAGAR, BANGALORE
2. OF THE OVERWORKED & UNDERPAID: THE BOX, BANGALORE
6. OF THOSE REAPING FRUITS OF A LIFETIME’S TOIL: RESIDENCE AT EAGLETON GOLF VILLAGE, BIDADI
Picture credits: Rovan Varghese
3. OF THE FORGOTTEN LOT: BREATHING LIFE INTO A QUARRY, PAN BANGALORE
7. OF ALL THE PEOPLE: BROADWAY BASTI, NAVI MUMBAI
Type: Product Design, Research, Prototype, Competition
November 2013 – February 2015
Design Team: Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja, Benedict Merven, students of UNSW, Australia
Pollinate Energy works with disenfranchised squatter communities of Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The main objective was to provide a holistic design for a shelter that focused on resolving issues of poor ventilation, pest infestation, respiratory problems in women due to smoke inhalation and other secondary adversities that concatenated from the previous ones. Utility and ease of assembly were the other factors that were considered, as frequent evictions are a common sight. With sustainability as a key focus, Pollinate Energy wanted to consider a material other than those conventionally used, including tarpaulin and asbestos. We opted for compressed plastic sheets made of recycled plastic waste which, unlike the AC sheets and the plastic tarpaulin, is durable, stable and not hazardous. The panels have many benefits, such as being low cost, fire retardant, strong, recyclable, easily replaceable, maintenance free, and a value for money.
Watch ABC’s Foreign Correspondent feature on PE’s work and people.
Vision of the future
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Smoke Hood Top hung window flaps Mild Steel Frame Wall panels Corrugated roof sheets
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2 ‘Working Bee’ project The first prototype was given to a family of five. From our constant surveys and user feedback of how the space was used, changes for the second prototype and Installation also concepts for cluster at site housing were proposed.
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Spacious new v/s Crammed Old
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The Hivette consists of modular plastic sheets with slots mounted on to a simple steel frame that is easy to erect and dismantle. The design uses cable ties as the primary joinery method. The design is component-based, allowing for high volume manufacturing and easy replacement of parts, and is both demountable and easily flat-packed for transportation.
5:30 pm – 9:30 pm
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TIME-MORPHED SPACE 6:00 am – 9:00 am
DESIGN
9:30 pm – 5:30 am
More volume in the same footprint.
HIVETTE V. 1.0
•Cooking breakfast and tiffin •Boiling hot water for bath •Sweeping and moping •Praying •Leave for work at 9:00 am
•Return around 5:30-6:00 pm •Cooking dinner •Children study •Increased socialising outside the shelter seen after installation of the prototype.
•Stack washed utensils back into the shelf •Roll out mattress to prepare for bed at 9:30-10:00 pm •Wake up by 5:00
People live in such conditions because they are under a constant threat of being evicted. Hence, our goal is to work with the same space allotted to them, while also allowing for maximum flexibility to use, group and repurpose, and to even communalise the space.
POSSIBLE TYPOLOGIES
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2 Possibility of a row house system for related families. Buyers can save on material by sharing common walls
The design is adaptable to personalisation by users. By making the shelter the main living unit, users can reuse available tarpaulin as extensions to this space.
3 A combination of iterations 1 and 2.
HIVETTE v.2.0
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With Pollinate Energy’s constant efforts in improving scores of lives, providing a viable sanitation option became the next big initiative that the organisation would focus on. The people were found to defecate in the open and the situation was particularly bad for the women who would control their urges until dusk or dawn. In addition to this, issues of snake/scorpion bites, lack of security and privacy continue to plague this fringe of people. As noted in the case of the shelters, the squatters do not have land rights which makes it impossible for a more permanent setup. Hence, it became necessary for us to experiment with a light weight, dismountable and portable design, based on the ‘Humanure’ concept.
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1 Semi-permanent platform that raises the toilet enclosure and creates an approach to the composting drums beneath. 2. Composting drums that receive the human excreta. 3. Liquid waste diverted to vegetable patch. 4. Toilet enclosure made of recycle plastic.
1. Retractable smoke hood 2. Smaller top hung window frames 3. Perforations for cross ventilation 4. Hand made blinds
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Side Elevation
SANITATION PROJECT ‘Working Bee’ project, Feb’ 2014 Fellowship
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Front Elevation
Isometric view of various components
Sanitation ‘Working Bee’ project In progress
Detail of the toilet shelter and system
THE BOX Type: Residence
September 2012
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Design Team: JĂźrg Grunder, Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja
The task was to design a micro home for the building watchmen. Deepak and Aakash have two jobs and work for more than twenty hours a day, seven days a week to earn enough to sustain and send back to their families in Nepal. To add to their predicament, the space allotted for their accommodation beneath the stairs of building was small, crammed and didn’t afford them any privacy. The design had to be cuboidal, given the space constraints and strict rules laid down by the building association, culminating in a structure as seen in the images below. The windows are strategically placed for the guards to be able to look around the entire space, yet have their privacy too. The frame is made of recycled packaging wood and the envelope is made of local rubber wood. The result was a flexible, interesting and a climatically comfortable shelter for the two guards.
1. Previous accommodation 2. Wing B Stairs 3. Frame of packaging wood 4. Outer cover of rubber wood
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Fenestrations marked and cut Space inside before sleeping platform was inserted Window shutters Final outcome: A playful space
BREATHING LIFE INTO A QUARRY Type: Academic, Competition
September - November 2011
Design Team: Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja, Aarti Natan, Aary Lobo
The vertical ledge of the quarry acts as an empty canvas for the sculptors to showcase their skills.
The water body is rain fed. It shall be kept clean by aeration and will be maintained throughout the year. It also houses many free standing sculptures as well. Notice that the design is devoid of any trees as we wanted to keep the design flexible for future changes, without affecting the beauty of the contours.
Public art movement commissioned by Bangalore Municipal Corporation to employ scores of struggling painters
Our idea was to start a new chapter for these beautiful quarries, and even give the sculptor communities a platform to pass their knowledge and skill to the next generation. At the same time, these quarries would become places of thought and tranquillity.
A two-storied walkway runs along the spine of the quarry. The only greenery that can be seen in the quarry is the wine that runs over the stretch of the trellis.
Traditional sculpting heritage of Karnataka
From the intricately carved temples and palaces of Hampi, to the shore temples of Mahabalipuram, the south of India has a rich heritage of sculptural excellence. Responding to the design brief of ‘Enclosure’ a competition by The Landscape Foundation of India to define an enclosure and propose an intervention, we selected one of the various abandoned quarries of Bangalore that were danger of being repurposed as dump sites – envisioning the steep, vertical faces of the quarries as empty canvases on which artists could exhibit their talent and showcase the strong sculptural heritage of the region.
Why not extend the idea of public art to traditional sculptors?
SUSTAINABLE HOUSING FOR MARGINALISED FARMERS Type: Research, Residence, Prototype
September 2012 – August 2013
Design Team: JĂźrg Grunder, Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja
Malur has a thriving brick industry, fuelled completely by the eucalyptus trees from large plantations. Eucalyptus has earned the notoriety of depleting ground water levels and thereby environmental degeneration which, in this case, has left bore wells in neighbouring lands dry. Incurring huge losses on agricultural produce, farmers resort to giving up farming and resort to working for daily wages at the brick factories to pay back loans taken from banks at exorbitant rates of interest. In order to earn some returns from the barren lands, farmers resort to planting more eucalyptus which is maintenance free; thus causing the water table to recede further. We aimed at breaking this vicious cycle through this project.
A beneficiary family was selected, which previously lived in a dilapidated house. The head of the family is a farmer who already had land to build a separate dwelling unit. The farmer and a couple of villagers were taught skills required to build in rammed earth that culminated in design dictated mainly by the villagers.
Plan
The task was to build a prototype which demonstrated the method of ramming earth for constructing houses from the soil excavated in their own land, instead of building with the conventional burnt brick.
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DESIGN
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The 440 sq. ft. plan includes a multi-function living space, a kitchen and an attached toilet/bath. By saving procurement of construction material, we were able to accomplish the construction, including rain water harvesting system and a hybrid solar cum grid battery inverter for just under Rs. 4,00,000.
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This project was a collaboration between IN:CH architects and Belaku, an NGO that works towards disseminating sustainable farming practices among the farmers and was funded by Swissnex India, an initiative of the Swiss Government spearheaded by the Swiss Consul General.
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1. A roof that is made of recycled plastic 2. Solar panels, supplying current to a hybrid UPS system 3. Concrete gutter that leads rain water to a storage tank. Water first passes through a filter which consists of no mechanical parts. 4. Rain water storage tank 5. Dry toilet system for composting of excreta and urine/grey water diversion to a banana plant
STAGES OF CONSTRUCTION 4
GRID
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1. Mason pouring the earth mixture into the mould and ramming the block in-situ. The mud was stabilised with 7% cement and 2% slaked lime. 2. Local bamboo species was used for the first time as reinforcement in order to prevent settlement cracks. 3. The beneficiary had a huge number of unused burnt bricks he had procured in excess in order to construct the biogas chamber. We used them to construct the chambers for the bio toilet. 5. Walls ready for the butterfly roof with the rain water channel in place. 6. The outcome. Windows and doors in place. Water filter also installed. Paint prepared from soil pigments.
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RESIDENCE AT GANGANAGAR Type: Residence
April 2015- Ongoing
Design Team: Dr. M R Yogananda, Pramod A V, Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja
Existing structure
The client approached our firm to have an extension designed on the first floor to create a separate living unit. In conjunction with our firm’s design principles, the family wanted a design that challenged conventional construction and set an example for eco responsiveness in the local community. With several challenges including, damage due to neighbouring construction work, settlement cracks and inferior quality of the original construction, both the team and the client were forced to look away from compressed mud blocks. Instead Huliyar blocks were considered for construction.
Existing structure
Existing structure
A narrow approach to the building was seen as problematic by the many contractors of our office and shrugged to take up execution work. The responsibility was then laid upon me to step in as a contractor in addition to being the architect.
First Floor
Second Floor
Front view
Arial view
BEFORE CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN CONSIDERATION
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The structure was not only damaged due to the neighbouring construction activity but also due to inferior construction quality and lack of maintenance. The exterior stucco plaster had denigrated overtime and in addition to chapped cement balustrade and concrete railing made the structure look rundown.
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Before
1. An very narrow lane which measures 9’3” wide at one end and 7’0” at the other, funnelling to a mere 3’0” at the dead end. 2. Narrow flight of stairs that was lesser than 2’0” in width. 3. Stucco plaster and cement balustrades that have denigrated and deteriorated in time due to lack of maintenance. 4. Existing single room and kitchen unit on first floor. 5. Existing single room for servant accommodation, covered with asbestos sheets.
DURING CONSTRUCTION The parapet walls and the narrow staircase had to be demolished to make way for new walls and staircase. It was also discovered that the masonry columns in the ground floor had displacements cracks that threatened the structural integrity of the building. Hence the columns and the portico slab had to be demolished and made again. 1. New flight of stairs which are wider 2. Stucco plaster being removed to prepare the wall surface for stone cladding
2 1 In progress
IN PROGRESS The walls are almost complete and pointing the grooves in underway. The old stucco is currently being chipped off in order to prepare the under surface for the new limestone cladding. The client also decided to extend the second floor room into a single bedroom unit.
RESIDENCE AT EAGLETON Type: Residence
June 2013- April 2015
Design Team: Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja
Mr. and Mrs. Mohan, wanted a retirement home designed on their 5000 sq. ft. plot in the posh Eagleton Golf Resort. Having lived in Belgium and yet stuck to his roots, Mr. Mohan gave a challenging brief of designing a vernacular style courtyard house furnished with all the modern conveniences he was used to in Belgium. It was a coincidence that both the client and I had a strong inclination towards mud as the main material for construction as we unanimously building with stabilised compressed mud blocks. Working on the project put me in touch with an assortment of specialists. These included an artisan who worked on the central courtyard, an award-winning landscape architect and a local craftsman who specialised in hand made floor tiles. The house is now equipped with state-of-the-art home automation and security, and runs completely on solar power.
View from the neighbouring plot
Ground Floor
South
First Floor
East
View at the entrance
Second Floor
North-east
West
DESIGN
SITE SUPERVISION
The design is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional courtyard house. The colonnaded sit-out or the jagali and the courtyard or the thotti are the typical features of such houses. Focus was laid more on the living space as Mr. Mohan had clearly stated that bedrooms were only meant for sleeping and that the living space would serve as the main activity area for the family. Hence the bedrooms were designed to be simple. The family is still in the process of shifting to their new address and will start residing on these premises only by June of 2016.
Mahijaa gave the structural backing for the project and also rendered the capacity building and training to the construction team. The exercise also entailed my constant presence on the site and monitoring the quality of work as the construction team was new to building with mud.
View from the from the entrance
View of the jagali
View from the main living area from the kitchen
View of the landscape
View from the atrium on the first floor
What began as a load bearing structure then, evolved into a framed structure for the ease of construction. This gave a chance to experiment with brick bond and arrangement that aimed at breaking the monotony of otherwise plain brown infill walls. Cut stone lentils were added to highlight the windows. The concrete columns and beams were later cladded with locally available granite. I had provided the following template on site to explain the brick arrangement to masons.
BROADWAY BASTI Type: Academic
December 2011- May 2012
Design Team: Kaushik Keshava Ramanuja
This project was my Bachelors thesis project as I love Broadway musicals, I wanted to design a commercial theatre complex for Navi Mumbai that nurtured traditional forms of theatre and provided platforms for every kind of performers – from a street performers to accomplished ballet dancers, from rock stars to Indian classical singers and so on.
For my case studies I travelled to London to watch the musicals at Westend and also to Las Vegas to watch the Cirque du Soleil shows in the various casinos found there. I had an invitation from MGM casinos to study their ‘Ka’ and ‘O’ shows at MGM Grand and Bellagio respectively. My design brief was derived from the observation made on sets there. The facility houses eight theatres – four of 2500 capacity and four of 4000 capacity; both sizes comprising of 2 receiving theatres and production theatres each. The other spaces include a multiplex with 4 screens, 4 smaller theatres for Off-Broadway performances, spaces for outdoor performances, food court, shops, a fair ground and a concert ground. The high end restaurant cum theatre serves patrons of exclusive shows like cabaret, mujrah, kavalli, etc.
Smaller theatres of 2500 seating capacity
Large LED screen that play trailers of shows musicals and movies on the loop
Inside the pavilion
Series of shops running around the theatre, designed like flea market Multiplex and food court beneath
Series of stairs merge with amphitheatres to create informal performing areas
Large theatres of 4000 seating capacity
Fair grounds
Large pavilion comprising of variegated ETFE pillows designed to look like the tents erected during festivities all across Mumbai
View at the entrance
Concert grounds
‘Basti’ in Hindi means settlement. After having studied the setting and context, I proposed that, unlike the West End in London, Broadway in New York or the Strip in Las Vegas, the Broadway Basti would be designed in a cluster form, thus creating the possibility of various informal secondary spaces. This makes the design truly democratic in nature and open to people from all walks of life..