24 INSIGHTS
The studio has an all-encompassing motto which is captured in the acronym ‘BLIRS’ – ‘Beautiful, Local, Indigenous, Recycle and Reuse, and Small.’ Rathod explains: “We believe that the context of buildings is a starting point to design. Architecture should rely heavily on its context, including the materials available, local craft etc.” She goes further to say that the firm’s designers “strongly believe in objects as characters that speak to you. In the same way, architecture influences and speaks to the person inhabiting the space.”
The architect says that the firm, rather than merely prioritising functional space planning, devotes a large part of its work to “creating experiences, using space to interpret – rather than reiterating the definitive,” using light and texture. She compares architecture to poetry, in the sense that poetry is
the “unravelling of layers of meaning, whereas architecture is unravelling of experiences; surprise, serendipity, comfort, relief, romance.” However Rathod explains that “esoteric” sources of inspiration such “stories, books, conversations” may be brought into designs, but subliminally, “not necessarily as physical manifestations.”
SHADOW HOUSE
The practice designed a residential project in the coastal town of Alibaug principally to shade its occupants from the strong Indian sun All images © Niveditaa Gupta
roots it into the local landscape: it’s entirely made from brick sourced from a local kiln and which has been hand crafted by local masons. The Community Centre in Bysandrum near Bangalore is another project built using materials made by local craftsmen. It “appears as a stone monolith,” made of granite from a nearby quarry, each piece having been manually cut, chiselled and installed. Rathod says: “For us, every project is a large painting which people inhabit – many of the textures found their inspiration from the landscape of fields around the site.”
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
SRDA maintains a strong line in product design alongside its architectural work, stemming from its first commission, to produce avant-garde furniture
Intellectual rigour & local inspiration The practice prides itself in its rigour in terms of lateral thinking, group discussions and extensive research,” underlying the success of its commissions, many of which have picked up awards. Rathod says that the studio “undergoes a rigorous process of design, ideation, drawing, model making and research” when it takes on a commission, giving the example of the School of Dancing Arches, a playful terracotta education project in Bhadran, Gujarat that crystallises a lot of what SRDA is about. “Conceptualised from a child’s early scribbles that turned into a series of dancing arches, the school is an experiment with materials and forms,” she says, explaining the resulting uneven set of arches, set within an overall articulated form in plan. “A scribble is indicative of having freedom; it’s the only form a child knows. The dancing arches are a reminder of this freedom. The arches’ asymmetry reiterates that it is not always mandatory to be straight or conventional.” She continues: The plan’s irregularity echoes critical thinking, questioning and breaking away from convention; it also allows for a meander.” The building’s materiality
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In terms of bringing clients along with them, Rathod says the firm spends “a lot of time persuading them of the ideas we are passionate about, but we also believe in striving to change things until the client is satisfied. The practice’s approach has led to it winning a clutch of awards, from commercial, office and urban design categories to its work in copper, plus an Elle Deco design award for lighting and a ‘Women and Architecture’ award from arc Vision in Italy. Despite this accolade however, her gender, says Rathod, has been “irrelevant” in her work.
Harnessing research
Having made its name in the commercial and education sectors, the practice is firmly setting its sights on larger urban masterplanning projects in future, “a realm not many niche practices decide to enter,” says Rathod. Short term, she says SRDA will be looking to bring to life, a range of concepts that they have been researching recently. These include ‘Project Boject,’ which has looked at the idea of “dismantling” buildings for sustainable reuse, rather than demolition. ‘Museum of Trees’ is a research project that documented the many trees in the Rani Baug zoo of Mumbai to propose it become a botanical garden instead.
Further projects looked at the potential regeneration of the town of Bhadran, where the practice created the School of Dancing Arches, and a design concept for a house that retains water in its walls. Such efforts show a practice not only delivering beautiful, context-responsive design for individual clients, but also thinking deeply about the wider ramifications and potential of architecture in India.
ADF MARCH 2020
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