Many minds and hands spend countless hours sketching, drafting, building study models, testing materials, and working on computers to imagine the spirit of a place.
The space where this alchemy happens is rarely presentable!
As Architects we bring order to the world outside, but we depend on a rich dose of chaos inside — litters of models, empty coffee cups, the unexpected leak of a skylight reminding us that buildings breathe.
This is the landscape of our imagination.
Welcome to the chaos we call our office.
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CAF Open Office Week invites architects, students, and anyone curious about the making of architecture to step inside this behind-the-scenes world —
to witness how spaces are first dreamed, then shaped, then brought to life.
#architecture #exhibition #chennai #chennaiarchitects
Initial weeks of bringing the Margins to Mainstream — tracing the journey of mass housing in Chennai.
From EWS housing built 50 years ago to projects as recent as 2015, we explored how limited space, high density, and political dynamics shape lives.
Meeting official authorities from Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board we learnt the difficulties faced while implementing policies. Meeting the leaders of NGO's we learnt the difficulties faced by the end users as they are often the last thought in the process.
Students were given three sites to analyse - Kabbali Thottam, Rukmani Nagar and Visalatchi Thottam. These were built by TNUHDB around 50 years ago and now it faces many challenges in the current scenario.
Through drawings, the students attempt to portray the layers of these lived realities.
A thorough process to figure out if architecture can dissolve boundaries and truly improve lives.
Set on a small plot a dense, contiguous street, the design of Besant Nagar House had to contend with several challenges: compact room sizes, the need for light and ventilation in every space, and a demand for privacy from the street.
A mango tree and the openspace around it , located on the northeast corner became the anchor for the project. Every day social spaces of a house were organised around this and the private rooms faced the street.
The “inward balcony” emerged as both invention and necessity: an edge that borrows the life of the street but filters it, drawing in light and air while holding privacy intact. It is neither purely inside nor entirely out, a liminal place where the house negotiates with its context.
Team :
@kanagu__@ashfaque_23@_.supritha._@sajithmohe
Images:
@syam.photographer
#moad #architecture #chennai #residential
House as a Ritual - An anti-interior project.
In this Besant Nagar house, everyday life unfolds as a ritual, shaped by a deliberate sequence of spaces, the presence and absence of light, and material textures that keep us connected to nature.
This anti-interior project resists the idea of sealed, self-contained rooms to be furnished as a commodity. Instead, it uses materials, textures, and the choreography of light to define its spaces — blurring the boundary between inside and outside, and turning the house into a lived ritual.
Team :
@kanagu__@ashfaque_23@_.supritha._@sajithmohe
Images:
@syam.photographer
#moad #architecture #chennai #residential
Architecture rooted in its urban context.
Besant Nagar House invites the city in - connecting with the street and drawing from the surrounding landscape.
Team :
@kanagu__@ashfaque_23@_.supritha._@sajithmohe
Images:
@syam.photographer
#moad #architecture #chennai #residential
Emergent Practices in Chennai
The event will comprise a set of presentations with practices based in Chennai with diverse experience in practice to understand the opportunities present in the region and the issues that current and emerging practitioners engage with on the ground. The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion to gain insights into diverse forms of patronage, methodologies, emergent technology, and construction technique explorations.
We recently completed a co-working space for the Department of Information & Technology, Tamilnadu Govt. It was a project located in Anna University on the 3rd floor of an existing Department building. A typical courtyard typology with single loaded corridor and class rooms around the court.
Like any govt work, it was not an easy one but it’s heartening to see the outcome and reinforce our commitment that good design can add value when approached through social and cultural contexts.
It was a breath of fresh air in the context of projects for the govt and it was made possible only with unwavering support by the clients iTNT Hub and TNEGA, tireless effort by Contractors and Project managers and deep commitment from everyone who pitched in whatever way they could.
Projects like these are an impetus for marching ahead.
For more see https://moad.in/itnt/
@sajithmohemmad@kanagu__@_gauthamkumar_@_.supritha._@impulsive._.art@ashlinsahana@architectssr
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐘𝐃𝐀 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑’𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐫𝐲 (𝟐 / 𝟑)
Meet 𝐀𝐫. 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐧
Ar. Mahesh is a Founding Partner of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐬 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐌𝐎𝐀𝐃), a multi-disciplinary practice based out of Chennai. With 20 years of experience in critically understanding place making, his designs respond to the social, environmental, and cultural context.
Ar. Mahesh is a visiting faculty and juror at several architectural schools across India. He is also a trustee of Chennai Architecture Foundation and an Associate of UDC, both non-profit organizations promoting Architecture and sustainable urban practices through advocacy and research
We are honoured to have Ar. Mahesh Radhakrishnan on our Jury Panel for AYDA 2023
Nippon Paint's AYDA Awards 2023 theme is - 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬. Participate now and showcase your best academic projects on a national and global platform.
𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐚𝐭
https://www.nipponpaint-ayda.co.in/ or link in bio.
Registration and Submission deadline is 𝟑𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑
#NipponPaint #AYDAAwards2023 #globalarchitectureawards #AYDAinternational #studentawards #studentcompetition #eventoftheyear #nationaljury #globalplatform #archistudents #archiawards #designawards #ethosempowers #archicolleges #designcolleges #architecture #interiordesign
