NARRATIVES

IN ARCHITECTURE OF ZEST AND REST: A MELANGE OF STAIRCASES

Studio 7 | Monsoon 2020

Bangalore, Karnataka

Guided by: Dr. Meghal Arya

The onset of the pandemic has gotten us reminiscing about life before the outbreak. Activities such as playing, eating and having a normal conversation have all been replaced with quick greetings, glances or rushed exchanges. At the time when we most need it, there is a severe loss of sense of community, leading to an increased feeling of isolation. With our lives turned inside-out, this design aims to create a space to interact through another pre-existing inversion, unique to my neighbourhood in Bangalore- external staircases, while exploring the idea of degrowth through minimal inserts. Analogies were derived from the structure of a narrative to weave a story which could be experienced through architecture.

The staircases are sufficiently integrated as a part of the house, yet at the same time are dissociated enough to have the potential to either become, or host a network of inbetween spaces that act as a mediator between the inside and outside. One can them as a base to add inserts, one expands their function beyond a transitional element to create a programme with no defined function- just a shared, unified space where opportunities to interact can be created once again. In order to create this interplay of dynamism and calmness, a story was written from the lens of a child, using the staircases and the interventions to be introduced as their playground. By borrowing these in- between spaces from the private realm, a plethora of newer spaces and environments can be made available to choose from, each with the potential to host a memory of an interaction, specific to an individual. One can recreate a place to play, dine, gather, lounge- a place for one to be able to catch up with a friend, an unfamiliar neighbour or even a stranger. This series of extensions would integrate itself along the walls of the residences to create a collective public space, bordering the private spaces- a unifying space. Its mere existence would provide a relief from the publicness within one’s home. It would become a remnant of a world before the pandemic and a reminder of what was.