Drawing 24

Thesis : Slowing Down – Exploring Food Through Space

This post is an overview of a thesis I recently guided at WCFA.

Nithyashree (WCFA, Batch 2017) comprehensively translated the initial research into design principles and spatial ideas. From the beginning, she sharply curated her intuitive sense of reading architectural space and environments into a focussed research on slowness and food. Her elegant and delicate drawing capabilities helped her carry the intricacies of slowness from an intellectual framework into an intuitive design process. I was also fascinated by her reading of an ordinary and simple space like Revamma’s mess and also imagine richer spatial possibilities in it. It was engaging to see Nithya pay attention to subtle environments and architectural possibilties hidden in the chaos of urbanity of Bangalore.

Nithya’s Note:

This project begins with an understanding that a thesis is a culmination of learnings from 4 years in architecture school. The thesis attempts to respond to a few un-answered questions regarding standard design formats accumulating over the years, and at the same time acknowledging ideas which are beyond the scope of the topic (in the hope that they can become other projects one day) because of its intuitive nature.

In search of places which offer comfort from the anxiety of moving away from home and living in a new city to pursue my studies, I found unusual spots, unpopular restaurants and new comfort food which slowed me down. The simplicity and spirit of these places and spaces is the core of this project and is manifested on paper through drawing and writing – two other acts of slowness.

Below are some key questions and drawings from thesis.
The access to the complete report is here.

Reimagination of Revamma’s mess – a rich environment to explore the different subtleties of cooking and eating.

This drawing encapsulates Nithya’s delicate explorations of the theme of *slowness* and *food* – and its intertwining.

This process drawing – tracing in particular – simultaneously explores and reveals the intent of the project. A slow brewing of both the thought and the space. The drawing becomes a container to hold both space and time.

Here are few selected key moments from the thesis :
(Click on the any of the images to view in larger format)

Map of your mind

Mind maps are useful tools to explore thought processes (both finished and unfinished) like when you are stuck or in the middle of a research or design process. Allowing to grow connections fluidly will help to gain some structure by making them visible. For a recent design studio, I tried this strategy as a method for precedent studies. Below in the photo of the blackboard, I was attempting to gather and articulate, with the students the status of design mid semester (so we don’t loose of track of what was the initial intent of the semester – faculty are good at that). I just accidentally then made a small mind map on the board. I think the day before that , I read the wonderful blog by Austin Kleon on the same topic. Then later I made a better diagram of the same – became an interesting tool for the study this semester . Bhamini (studies at the end of this page) took this method to the next level in exploring this method for analysing the precedent. I have written earlier in the blog about the theme of the semester here – precedents as ‘point of entry / departure‘

Classroom Board – Thinking and clarifying with the students. Articulating where we are heading in the semester and what layers are priority for the studio.

This map became the framework for precedent analysis and possible routes of enquiry – the genesis of an idea – influences leading to the idea under study, how this idea influenced other projects, same idea : same architect : different manifestations, same idea : different architects : different manifestations

The particular trigger was Austin Kleon’s blog post on mind mapping (and his brilliant deliberations of creativity has a lot of his influence in the other posts of this blog too)

Below are Bhamini Mehra’s (WCFA, Batch 2019) explorations for the precedent study. The project under study was Bishop Edward King Chapel, Oxford by Níall McLaughlin Architects. The project had deep theoretical connections and material explorations. Bhamini carefully peeled all the layers using the mind map method, revealing and articulating the analysis.

Here is the complete analysis :

Click on the images to enlarge.

Drawing 23

Scalar Comparison

Understanding and modulating scale is one of the fundamental acts in design. Particularly while teaching in design studios, i am looking for tools and methods which can help modulate scale. This simple method of drawing different projects in the same scale has immense potential. I feel this tool is underused. Putting them together digitally has made it much easier. Just imagine pre-computer days, where one had to draw them to scale again or take scaled photocopies (and struggling with the copier to assign different percentages). I usually have the habit of drawing the room (say like 12′ x 18′ room) in which I am making the drawing in the same scale as the drawing I am working (say 1:100) to get better sense of space i am designing. I feel the responsibility of any conceptual idea is to modulate scale first. Chipperfield brilliantly notes in Theoretical Practice that scale and time are the biggest challenges of our profession. Here i have selected some drawings which uses this method effectively.

This brilliant drawing is from Henri Stielin’s book Architecture of the World: India. This drawing was a revelation – i have never been to Gol Gumbaz, but looks like Pantheon (with some diet) can fit inside Gol Gumbaz. I can sense the scale of the buiding i have not visited (Gumbaz here) through a building i have visited (Pantheon). Taj Mahal’s has an exaggerated exterior form (by the means of the double dome) compared to relatively smaller interior volume, but its presence is as monumental as the Pantheon or the Gumbaz.

Form, Space and Order : D K Ching

Prof. Kulbhushan Jain uses this method consistently in almost all his books. This drawing is from Architecture Conceptual to the Manifest. In this case when both the scale and the orientation are consistent, the reading of the project gets more sharper.

Residential Design : Maureen Mitton and Courtney Nystuen. This method is also effective at much smaller scale. When I refer this book for toilet design, I notice even a 6″ difference can make significant impact on design of such tight programs.

Rahul Mehrotra used this comparative diagram (In a TED Talk) by overlapping a 30 sq.km area of Kumbh Mela over the map of Manhattan to make the point of the largeness of the temporary city of Kumbh Mela.

Le Corbusier Redrawn : The Houses by Steven Park. This book has drawings (plans, sections, elevations) with brilliant cut views of all the houses designed and built by Corbusier. All of them at 1:200! – and it is deep diving experience reading this book. Villa Sarabhai is one of the few project which covers both the spreads : )

At one the of studios we tried to print all the case studies in the same scale (I think it was 1:500). It was very revealing. And we made a site plan with a hole in it at 1:500 scale to overlap against these drawings to get a sense of the scale.

Again in one of the studios we tried to overlap the precedent we were studying (Niall McLaughlin’s Bishop Edward King Chapel) on the site at Srirangapatna. We didn’t realise the scale of the precedent till then, the project (at least the main chapel) will fit in any ubiquitous 60’x40′ site in India. There are no small projects in architecture.

In this study for adaptive reuse of the iconic Central Beheer, Herman Hertberger’s office is trying to understand the different program possibilities and configurations for the 9m x 9m grid. It can also become an independent study of how a certain fixed area (50 sqm here) or a grid pattern (9m x 9m) can cater to different programs. We can test different possibilities to suit the site and program requirements at hand in design.

Why Density? – Debunking the Myth of the Cubic Watermelon. Here the same method is used for exploring the different massing strategies. A three dimensional comparative method.