Space, Material and Meaning
Workshop by Sankalpa
Project by Shreya Mittal and Radhika Malekar
The material we worked with is brick and the condition was to create an experience of lightness. We started by trying to understand the meaning of the terms weaving, lightness and elevating while trying to figure out methods to work with the same. Few of these methods were using light wells and jali walls as we thought that a perforated space with a play of light would work with the idea of making the space feel less dense.
We then began sketching out these ideas through our understanding of the various methods. One of the methods was to work with domes as they make the space seem huge which in turn again would help to reduce a sense of density that brick as a material functions through. Although we later realised that the scale of the site was such that having a dome would not make sense, also it had no sense of weaving in its construction process.
Simultaneously we were looking at references and Kantana Institute in Bangkok gave us the idea of staggering a brick wall which allows to break the bulk of a wall and make it dynamic. Moreover, referring to Maya Somaiya Library by Sameep Padora introduced us to the method of layering concrete with thin sections of brick which allow the overall section to be thin. This gave us the idea of having a corbelled arch and adding a layer of concrete. We then considered having arches instead as they would cover a long span without making the space look bulky. Even though arches brought in a sense of lightness, the idea of weave here was being represented through the form and was not an integral part of the construction process.
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Ultimately, for the pavilion that we designed, we thought of working with jali walls which would be placed on the site in a staggered manner. The idea was to create a space having a quality of filtered light and the jali walls as mentioned earlier could afford this. Although, as we designed, we realized that because of the scale of the site, the structure turned out to be bulky as the walls were placed too close to each other.
We feel that through these ideas, we explored the methods of achieving the lightness of the experience of space while addressing the inherent quality of brick as a dense material. But we found all these explorations to be very isolated ideas which couldn't come together. While the understanding of weaving as a method of construction couldn't develop along the way.
The primary critique that we received from Sankalpa for this project was about designing the roof. He emphasized on the fact that the roof is the most integral part of a building. He also talked about how the roof can create a condition of contrast where if there is darkness, only then will the filtered light from the jali walls be appreciated. He further extended this thought into other aspects of designing spaces where this idea of contrast could be used as a constant thinking process keeping the intent of the design in place.