Category Archives: Projects

Architecture, Contemporary Practice, Dialogues, Projects

CMR University Admin and Academic Block : M9 Design Studio

December 16, 2021 Matter Leave a comment

Bengaluru-based firm M9 Design Studio led by Nischal Abhaykumar and Jesal Pathak, explored the concepts of modularity, temporality and versatility of steel in the Admin and Academic block of the renowned CMR University’s new campus. Adapting to the challenges of time, efficiency and extensibility, M9 outline a possible precedent for the future blocks in the campus with a comprehensive design approach.

Nischal Abhaykumar discusses the processes, interests and ethos of the practice. The conversation dwells on the design and making of the project – CMR University Admin & Academic Block.

Within the hilly context of peri-urban Bengaluru, is located CMR University‘s newly developed 60-acre campus. In 2015, M9 Design Studio was approached to design the first building, initially to be purposed as an administration and academic block. The proposed block was programmed to be an ever-evolving space, and to be completed within a short timeline without compromising the quality of construction. This challenge prompted the architects to employ a design partly focusing on efficiency and flexibility to delineate the various learning spaces. A modular system derived from prefabricated steel emerged which follows a grid to achieve an idea of dismantling or expansion and speed of construction that was essential.

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Architecture, Conservation, Contemporary Practice, Dialogues, Projects, Site Visit

Shanti-Krishna Museum of Money & History: CAUSE – AN INITIATIVE

November 9, 2021 Matter Leave a comment

By Rama Raghavan

In a dialogue with Nashik-based architects, CAUSE – an initiative, author Rama Raghavan poses questions and explores themes on practice, conservation, publicness, ambition of a programme, perceptions of constraints and challenges through the lens of their project – Shanti-Krishna Museum of Money & History.

A conversation with the architects on the nuances of their practice and the project.

Sketch, Shanti-Krishna Museum of Money & History

The Coin Museum and Numismatic Centre in Anjaneri is a building that has been an integral part of the city of Nashik. The institute founded in 1980 by the Indian Numismatic, Historical and Cultural Research Foundation has been a landmark of the city. Earlier constituting a research centre and a library relating to numismatic studies, it was also home to an impressive privately owned collection of coins and artefacts. The museum known locally as ‘Nane Sangrahalaya’ (Coin Museum) flourished for a while but gradually began losing ties with the community over a period of time.

Recognising this fading dialogue, the trustees, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Government of India, decided to establish a renewed identity for the museum. The new extension spanning nearly 9000sqft was thus conceived and rechristened the ‘Shanti-Krishna Museum of Money & History’. A product of thoughtful, responsive processes emerging from context, the extension to the coin museum was conceptualised and completed in 2018 by a Nashik-based architectural firm, ‘CAUSE – an initiative’ co-founded by architects, Ali Kaderi, Purva Shah, Nandan Malani and Amol Suryawanshi.

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Dialogues, Praxis, Projects

Models & PROCESSES BY NURU KARIM (NUDES)

May 25, 2021 Matter Leave a comment

‘NUDE MODELS’ by Nuru Karim explores the structure within
natural systems using technology and processes.

Evolutionary tools in model-making have enabled the translation of concepts of abstraction and coexistence from nature to built environments. NUDES, a Mumbai-based contemporary practice thrives on this process of model-making, while acknowledging the extent of design articulation that is possible with the implementation of these tools.

Architectural models, historically, are approached as tools that guide design thinking. Apart from their role in the essential act of communicating design, they have evolved over time to represent conceptual underlays in the design process. The fascination of Nuru Karim, Founder and Principal, NUDES, with model-making processes goes back to his undergraduate years. The practice of creating three-dimensional objects at NUDES is intrinsically connected to the design processes that generate buildings and ideas. The studio, that spans their practice across diverse spectrum of architecture, urbanism and public art, employs the idea of evaluating design through perceptions and imaginations at the human scale through these models.

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Architecture, Contemporary Practice, Projects

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH: VIKAS DILAWARI ARCHITECTS

February 8, 2021 Matter Leave a comment

Afflicted with bureaucratic hurdles and unsettling realities, the condition of living heritage in the country is grave. At a time when the practice of urban heritage conservation has seen a paradigm shift to ‘beautification’, the meticulous restoration of St John the Baptist Church by Mumbai-based Vikas Dilawari Architects resurfaces the need for patronage in conservation.

St John the Baptist Church, Thane

With the onset of economic liberalisation, the early 1990s witnessed generous patronage from the private sector for the Conservation of Arts and Culture. Inheriting a rich legacy of Continue reading ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH: VIKAS DILAWARI ARCHITECTS →

Architecture, Contemporary Practice, Projects, Site Visit

National War Memorial, Delhi: WeBe Design Lab

June 22, 2020 Matter Leave a comment

The National War Memorial in Delhi by Chennai-based Webe Design Lab is a built landscape that emerges from an unprecedented participatory process, programme, ambition, and typology. In its comprehension, the project creates a space of sanctitude in memory of Jawans, and of pride, and honour for their families and citizens of India, which is respectful to the context.

Google Earth Image of the Site: Before

BACKGROUND & TIMEFRAMES

One of the most enduring images from Delhi since 1931 is the axis of India Gate, forming one of the pinnacles of the ceremonial Vijaypath (the erstwhile Rajpath or the Kings Way) – the currently debated Central Vista. The ceremonial boulevard was designated by Edwin Lutyens as the centre of what he contrived as a ‘modern imperial city’, tethering an enclave of buildings of political eminences such as Rashtrapati Bhavan (formerly the Viceroy’s Residence), Secretariat Building, Vijay Chowk, designed by Lutyens himself and Herbert Baker. Renowned as one of the foremost European designers of war memorials and graves, Edwin Lutyens designed the All India War Memorial, popular as India Gate in tribute to the soldiers martyred in the First World War from 1921-31. Beyond it, since 1972 stands the Amar Jawan Jyoti, an inverted bayonet with a soldier’s helmet – an insignia in homage to India’s victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan and to the brave soldiers who died while serving India’s armed forces. The area surrounding this is marked as the Lutyen’s Bungalow Zone (LBZ) which is also enlisted on 2002 World Monuments Watch list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. Needless to iterate, it is a site of cynosure – an avenue in focus with the ongoing debates around the Central Vista project. It is a landscape of immense cultural, historical and political significance. Continue reading National War Memorial, Delhi: WeBe Design Lab →