This Teak Museum designed possibly in the early to mid 80's for Kerala State Forest Research Institute is a quickly drawn up conceptual pitch.  The design was in response to a call for 'design ideas' from KFRI to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Centre for Science and Technology. There was no site specified.

Sections
Sections © Prof.Oommen Thomas Archive

The regionalist turn is quite evident, corresponding with his interest in traditional and vernacular architecture and the turn of the department.1  that he lead in the direction of documentation. The Padmanabhapuram palace complex, the Kilimanoor palace, Sreekariam Madom were all documented by students and faculty in the early 1980's. The attempt to bring together and resolve his purely modernist training and the postmodern bend towards studying regional responses towards form, climate and materiality is evident in the formal language of this project, especially in the context of a 'teak museum'. In later projects of the same genre, like the Kerala State Encyclopedic Publications Institute, done just one or two years later, the language appears resolved.  

  • 1. Prof.Oommen led the architecture consultancy cell as Head of Department at College of Engineering Trivandrum and  was consultant architect to Lal Bahadur Shastri Centre for Science and Technology, a semi-government autonomous consulting agency which competed for major projects within the state.
Ground Floor Plan: Museum, Library, Offices and ancillary areas
Ground Floor Plan: Museum, Library, Offices and ancillary areas © Prof.Oommen Thomas Archive