Professional Training Report Ar.Vinu Daniel / Wallmakers Padivattom,Ernakulam Kerala,India
Submitted to.
MAHATMA EDUCATION SOCIETY’S PILLAI HOC COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, RASAYANI University of Mumbai
Partial Fulfillment of
B.Arch Degree Submitted by
Ajay kushwaha
FOURTH YEAR B.ARCH. - SEM VIII
______________ Examination No.
2017HA0050 Admission No.
MAHATMA EDUCATION SOCIETY’S
PILLAI HOC COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, RASAYANI University of Mumbai
CERTIFICATION This
is
B.Arch
to
certify
Sem
academic
that
VIII,has
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Mr.
Ajay
completed
2020-2021
as
Kushwaha
his
partial
2017HA0050 Admission No.
Studying
Profesrrional fulfilment
of
in
Training the
Date: ____________.
the
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Examination No.
Ar. Suchita M Sayaji
1) ___________ ________
Year
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Principal
Examined by
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2) ________________________
Philosophy and Nature of Practice Wallmakers follow the Gandhian philosophy of utilising material found within a five-mile radius. “ Just look around when you walk out. You will find lots of waste material like plastic and construction debris strewn around. Abiding by that principle, I cannot ignore this waste. One must start thinking maybe this is new material because this is all we may have in the future. We must prepare ourselves for the day when resources we take for granted no longer exist,” said by the principle Ar. Vinu Daniel The studio has devoted itself to the cause of using mud and waste to make structures that are both utilitarian and alluring. According to Ar.Vinu daniel sustainability is not something apart from us ,it’s a part of our lifestyle ,each one of us should be sustainable in terms of what we are doing , same applies in Architecture .also he says as an architect we the one who harm the earth most,so it’s our prime duty to also take sustainability in consideration whenever we built something . He defines sustainability like a bond between mother and child , they don’t have to show we are connected ,it is natural ,the same way our work should be sustainable by nature ,not by compulsion . Wallmakers are sustainable in terms of materials ,( use of waste,scrap,mud,and locally available material) spaces,Techniques. which also makes their work low cost .
Shikhara Residence by Wallmakers in Pothencode,India
While working with Wallmakers an individual has to forget that he is an Intern ,Jr.Architect or Sr.Architect. Because he has to work as an Site Incharge of a particular project under him .He not only have to deal with site works but also with all the things happening on site ,he have to involve with masons their way of work,their issues. also he is responsible for all the materials on site ,he should also maintain the rules and regulations of site. As a site incharge i use to visit sites daily and supervise the work happening on site and explain the drawings to Mason for further work , also i take photographs of work happening on site and inform to principal architect on daily basis twice a day, any on-site changes done by site supervisor is directly informed to Principal Architect on same day. During my training, I was a site incharge of 6 projects (residentail and public buildings) and handling them with Sr. Ar.Fawaz Thengilan and Jr.Ar.Neeraj Murali.
Site supervisior’s explaining drawings and process to masons for execution
My Contribution to firm includes : • Preparation of working drawings which i have to execute on site with help of masons • 3d diagrams ,sketch ,2d drawings,models for presenting to Principal architect ,how i’m thinking to solve a particular issue on site and then,Ar.vinu daniel used to discuss with us about his view on the same problem and we used to work on it as a team. • 3d visuals,renders,models for presenting to clients . • Checking and buying the materials for site with help of project manager • Update of site status on a daily basis and scheduling tomorrow’s work on site. • Updating folders of site photos,station point photos,site videos for documentation purpose on daily basis. • Contributing in accounts of a particular project by providing data of materials used ,workers count to the project manager .
Model making
Site Executions
Firm introduction and Work atmosphere In Wallmakers ,there is no office, wherever the site is there, architects and interns have to look for their stay nearby or on site if provided by a client . In my case the client had provided a stay near the site for the whole team including Jr.Architects,Sr. Architects,Interns and Principal Architect. It is more site oriented practise. Jr.Architect,Sr.Architect,Intern have to visit site daily ,and ,principal architect comes to site thrice a week or depending on his schedule whenever sir vinu daniel comes to site ,he will explain the concept of project , shares the idea of further work to be done , also shows how particular masonry technique is done by his own hand he works on site alongside his team .
Site visits for checking the progress of work
Principal Architect explaining techniques to masons
Discussion on ideas
On site discussion with team
Strategies of work we have to daily update the site status (number of workers,material used ,work progress with site photos) on whatsapp group in which all the architects of on going projects ,client and project manager can get the update of sites Also we have to schedule tomorrow’s work of sites ( type of work,material required, drawings status for the execution,number of workers needed on particular sites) and post in same group and after getting approval from Principal Architect ,the same schedule is circulated in workers group so that the workers supervisor can provide a mentioned number of workers on a particular site. Through this method we are able to handle 6 projects at a time without much trouble on site .
We also have to look for the material needed on site by estimating from drawings and we have to go to the market with the project manager to buy that material at least a week before. We have to check the quality of materials,its cost according to our purpose and buy the suitable material accordingly .
Learning behind my training while practising with Wallmakers,first thing i had learn is to deal with people,in start there is a language barrier for me ,also to convey drawings and handle workers was a challenge ,but over a time i developed my communication and able to handle things on my own . I explored the new materials, techniques and I got involved in exploring different materials, their cost, quality,and availability in the market . We attended the meeting of Ar.Vinu Daniel with his client .On the projects I worked upon, I understood how he deals with clients and structural engineers,the way to answer the clients’ questions and convey them the concept of design .
While spending my half the time on site ,I started understanding the scale of project and the concept behind the design . On site changes and learnings while dealing with site there are a lot of on site changes that came across me and I learnt how to deal with it .Many times Ar.vinu Daniel also makes some changes on site and discusses his idea behind that change with his team .
Contribution in design While handling sites there are lot of things happens naturally,and in this process one can find something sensible in building ,Vinu sir used to say allow things to happen ,some things comes up in unplanned way and we should know to understand them a lot of such things came across to me and I allowed them ,which have been considered in design by our team . Also whenever a new design comes up , vinu sir used to narrate it as a story and used to draw a basic sketch on paper. and he asked us to make a 3d of it . When we make a 3d or model we understand a lot of things like volumes, spaces,techniques and sometimes we used to contribute in design from our side.
Location and type of project :Residential project, In sholagiri tamilnadu,India Concept:The context was flourished with stones and rock,and the concept of this project is to camoflauge the building with the context ,and not allow building to act dominant and one must feel that he is with the rocks ,climbing,sitting,feeling it and living with it . In this exercise,i felt the context by inhaling it ,experiencing it and i designed a facade of building ,which is excepted by our team and been executed on site.
In these image , we are precasting tyre for making tree house model on 1:1 scale for testing structural strength The project is in sholagairi,tamilnadu,India project name : on the rocks community Concept: The main idea is to build a elevated living and residing with trees and allowing maximum usage for the land below for flora and fauna.it is a chain link method of building with modules .
In this project ,vinu sir asked us to make atleast 100 precast tyres for testing purpose,but for holding concrete in tyres we need glue tapes, in such scenarios we also need to check the material costing with project manager and come up with some solutions which can reduce cost. In this case we precasted tyre using waste sarees,which actually given precasted tyres more strength,becuase during curing time cloth holds water for longer period . such changes on sites are accepted by our team as my contribution .
Leadership courtesy Whenever a new Process starts, i need to demostrate by my own and show to my masons and workers,which helps them to understand particular work and also creates a bond between us. After working for 5 months, I got a team of 2 interns under me to handle projects with me ,to whom I have to explain the work culture,techniques (on site demonstrating it) and basic regulations of the firm . I found leadership as a challenge in the beginning,but over time I managed to teach them what I learnt and handing over and assigning works .
Demonstarting process of work to working team
Explaining techniques to Newcomers
Bond with Artisans (working team) and Learning from them As a site Architects, Me and my senior used to spent daily half my day with my workers and in this journey of 6 months, there is a creation of bond between us ,they used to share their stories,their issues,their happiness with us. When I look back , I wondered without knowing each others language how this bond was created ,how they used to share their emotions and I realise how beautiful it was . Also Sometimes I allowed them to do particular things on site in their way and I learnt from them .
Interactions with Ar.Vinu Daniel Whenever sir used to visit the site ,he used to ask everyone around to join him,he takes us for a walk or to any place near the site and he asks us about our life ,our stories of childhood and also share his childhood memories ,about his art ,life ,struggles . he said‘ In life one should take pause and allow things to happen and then experience and sense it .’ He said we humans try to be a master of what we are doing ,we never allows things to happen and there we face problems. and because of such visits i found my privacy in openness and i feel Silence is the creation of space ,a space that senses needs to use ,to make us conscious about them .
On site sketches and discussions In start of every new project ,Vinu sir use to take his team on site and narrate his idea behind project ,and ask each of us to also think and sketch it and then he used to discuss each of us sketches and ideas in team.
Exploration of new culture and its rituals In India when we move from one state to other ,we come across a diversity in culture,life pattern,food,language,Architecture and one can learn a lot from it . for my training ,when i moved from Maharashtra to Tamilnadu, I got to know about Tamilnadu’s culture,their people,their lifestyle,heritage,building methods,their principles,rituals,festivals. and this change of pattern make me think about how architecture diversified with its context,people and their behaviour patern, their celebrations,and beliefs.
Selection of Design Dissertation topic During Internship , Working as a site incharge, i used to spend half my day with my masons and workers. I was working with 3 teams of masons and welders .As these teams are from different states of India, migrating and working under wallmakers ,company or client use to provide them some temporary stay near or on site. but these stay are like 15sqm area where 20 group of people use to stay together ,there was no proper facilities of water and electricity also they have leakage issue in there houses whenever it rains and they use to ask me for help whenever they face such issues .when i ask project manager for help our workers ,most of time ,i got reply like -”they are workers they are used to such lifestyle “ but i wonder are they used to such lifestyle or we made them used to such lifestyle and as an intern i never invested my time on it .same as others i need to ignore and move But I used to feel bad about them ,because more than anyone else ,I used to spend my time with these people,some are away from family ,the only happiness they have is good food and sleep . I feel ,As Architects,the site is but a means to concretize our drawings and visions,but we are ignorant of seeing it as a habitable space for the workers working and living there What life,light,volume,spaces,energies we are talking about ? Does this principle only mean for a particular project we are doing or this should also be experienced by our workers who are actually going to build your design and these principles on site. and for me it is not just a Design Dissertation topic ,but it’s a chance to think back and find a solution to offer a habitable living environment to the workers who lives revolve around the site . I want to help such facilitators to build their own quality space homes, with all the scrap we found near the site,and I think it makes more sense to build through waste for one who can’t afford something other than waste.
