The wall and the movement route create a valuable spatial experience through a series of polyphonic overlaps between active and passive spaces, horizontal and vertical accent, and dark and light. Together with little details and a modified function, the abandoned site becomes a new public place. In the process, it explores a new way to locate itself in the context physically, culturally and psychologically.

Location: Porto, Portugal
Client: Municipality of Porto
Typology: Adaptive Re-use of a decommissioned Brick Factory
Year: 2014
Size: 9000 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal (Winner)
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Javier Ugarte Albizu, Bharat Kumar

The introduction of a contemporary building onto a historic site always raises the question of whether its architecture enhances the value of its setting and derives its value from the immediate surroundings.

We have adopted an approach that is conscious of its historical context and seeks to respect the cultural importance of the surrounding landscape and people. Moreover, we found studying the future of Bamiyan City and the significance of a cultural center in its current social and economic setting to be crucial in setting the premise for our concept.

Three low-key, unassuming volumes define the project. They are intuitively arranged on the lower terrace of the site and tied together by the plaza area. Access to the plaza is multifold, and there is no single way to approach the independent volumes.

By fragmenting the design into three volumes and placing them at different levels along the movement route that navigates a 10-meter level difference within the site, we follow the logic and the grain of the surrounding fabric. The volume on the western edge is sunken below the ground, setting up a visual dialogue with the surrounding terrain.

The sizing and internal configuration of these volumes follow the generic spatial configuration as conceptualized. Inner parent volumes contain spaces for cultural activities, with light courts and outer bays wrap around the parent volumes are conceived for circulation or storage spaces/ small shops, depending on the level of the volume.

When approached from the east, the visitors will encounter a small volume housing the information center. A walled path then leads down to the plaza via a descending ramp running along the periphery of the visitor center. A performance center located on the lower level of this volume can be directly accessed from the plaza. Visitors moving along the ramp can access shops located along the peripheral bay of this volume. The square acts as a space for repose, nestled between three volumes. The plaza opens on its North to a planted canopy where temporary pavilions and low platforms can be built as places to sell local products.

The conference and exhibition center, completely sunken into the terrain, are accessed via a downward descent of five meters from the plaza along a set of ramps leading to the edge of the western cliff before entering the volume. The only aspect of this volume that projects above the plaza level is an open pavilion that will be used as a teahouse.

A third volume houses research and library facilities along with classrooms and workshops and can be accessed by ascending from the plaza and on the way to the contemplative garden along the north-south axis of the site.

Location: Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan
Client: UNICEF
Typology: Cultural Centre
Year: 2015
Size: 4800 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal (Finalist)
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Javier Ugarte Abizu, Celia Fernandez Duque, Sneha Parthasarathy, Mario Yanez Aller, Bharat Kumar, Jean Baptiste Peter, Sai Kumar G

Our fundamental concept — which evolved gradually with our design for the new extension — was to respect and to create a dialogue between two existing but contrasting elements: Jean Tschumi’s original creation and the wide, open green spaces of its setting. A masterpiece of modern architecture, Tschumi’s design — now 50 years old, and weathering beautifully — has three distinct elements: a linear office block hovering above the access level and a spiral pavilion structure that connects downwards to a lower volume, which orders and defines the limits of the ensemble.

We wanted to create a design that would not challenge Tschumi’s concept — by being too large or too close — and so would have an ‘invisible’ impact: increasing the usable room space, but adhering to the current site curtilage. It would provide fine, functional, and flexible spaces in which people could work and gather, concentrate and relax; spaces that were easily accessible and naturally lit, but would embrace and integrate the whole campus opening it out to the local parkland.

The principal element of our proposal is a single, new, L–shaped horizontal volume whose two wings define the site’s edges. Its restrained scale facilitates uninterrupted views of the surrounding landscape from the existing offices, and its ‘invisible’ green roof — turfed with grass and shrubs — creates a terrace garden, with edges that seem to be carved into the landscape, drawing nature inside. Extending outwards, it serves as a walkway into the panorama, giving clean views back to the main building.

In the wider context, this roof garden connects the site seamlessly to the neighborhood’s disparate elements — the proposed forecourt esplanade north of the existing building and the parkland south of the site. A discreet ramp on its western edge gives vertical circulation to the offices below and to Appia Parkway, while a bridge links to the park, creating generous public spaces that accommodate bicycle and pedestrian paths.

Nestled into the park’s gently sloping landscape, the new additions adopt the scale of the ensemble’s existing buildings, and the structural rhythm of the office volumes complement the existing spiral pavilion structure. Buildings, topography, and landscape are held in harmony, erasing the site’s boundaries and achieving a fluid transition from built spaces to the landscape, which allows both to be experienced together.The proposed new extension marks a fresh stage in the development of this important site. It offers considerably enhanced working and public spaces, enshrines today’s eco-imperatives, and opens the site up to the landscape while still paying tribute to Tschumi’s legacy.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Client: World Health Organisation
Typology: Office Building
Year: 2015
Size: 220000 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal (Fourth Prize)
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Javier Ugarte Albizu, Jean Baptiste Peter, Mario Yanez Aller, Bharat Kumar, Sai Kumar, Celia Fernandez Duque

The Un-built: Visitors to the Suncheon Art Platform will hail largely from the dense parts of the old city or the densely populated new town to the south. The proposal seeks to lend a psychological ‘void’ in the midst of this density by creating an open-to- sky quadrangle as a pure subtraction of ground. This strategy creates a seamless connection between the riverbank and this public space – a new linkage in the heart of the old city. As culture is a dynamic construct that keeps evolving, proposal aims to forge an urban relationship that might last longer than temporal processes. A park conceals the Art Platform from the neighboring streets and their noise, creating a quiet cloister – a green island in the midst of urbanity. The built forms stand unassumingly within this landscape. By intending dense planting of flora on the site, the Humanities City might echo the efforts of the Eco-City of Suncheon, emphasising the significance of fostering natural environments within major urban settings.

The Built:  Two linear elements are added diagonally opposite each other to define the limits of the quadrangle. They share a relationship of duality and emphasise directionality from the riverbank in the south to the quadrangle and the Art Centre, and further onwards to the cultural streets branching out towards the north. A cloister surrounds the quadrangle. Through this threshold between light and shadow, visitors walk and access the subterranean rooms that are carved around the periphery of the void. The quadrangle is thus a free centre – a visual anchor point for this circulation. A proportional system based on the traditional measure ‘ka’ of 3.60 metres is used. The subterranean rooms are of an additive nature, having the potential to grow in small increments if required. A layered stratification is created between the stereotomic cloister base in granite stone, and the light steel pavilions that rise from it. The overall built system is reminiscent of traditional Korean architecture, whilst opening up the heart of the old city to contemporary interpretation.An imagination of a sense of joy in discovering a hidden cloister in an urban forest, has guided the proposal. A play in contrasts between density and void, heaviness and lightness, the subterranean and the pavilion – has forged its meaning.

Location: Suncheon, South Korea
Client: Suncheon City Council
Typology: Art Centre & Museum
Year: 2016
Size: 5300 m² 
Status: Competition Winner - Under Construction
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Mario Yanez Aller, Carlos Gonzalvo, Bharat Kumar, German Muller, Niharika Sanyal

Within the dense context of VJTI campus, the proposed volume asserts its presence through a precise geometrical form. The raised ground floor and modulation of the surrounding exterior spaces allow for different transitions from the campus into the building. Its position, therefore, provides an urban relationship with its abutting streets, while creating spatial distance for its neighboring buildings.

Resonating with the idea of a continuous promenade, the spaces at different levels of the building are connected by a series of steps that change their direction as we move up the building. These allow users to enjoy elevated views towards the landscape. A cafeteria at the ground level marks the beginning of this movement, with programmatic spaces positioned around a central core.

Common areas, such as an incubation centre and seminar rooms, are located on the upper levels. These, in turn, are connected to a monsoon pavilion that accommodates a dining space on the top floor. The shape of the roof is designed to capture rainwater in a courtyard during the monsoons. It simultaneously allows the area under it to open up towards views of the city on the northern side.

The only structural material used is concrete. The exterior surfaces are composed of operable windows made of bamboo and glass, to enhance natural lighting, ventilation and a visual sense of connection with the vegetation outside.

The aim of this proposal is not only to provide a setting for student activities and events but also to deepen the experience of the generous spirit of the tropical greenery dotting the campus.

Location: Mumbai, India
Client: Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute
Typology: Student Centre
Year: 2016
Size: 6000 m² 
Status: Invited Competition (selected)
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, German Müller, Fernando Royo, Niharika Sanyal, Bharat Kumar

The objective of this project is two-fold: the first is to create a centre for community development that includes a residential school, vocational training centre and primary health centre, focusing on enhancing knowledge and skills within the local population so that they can make the best use of their available resources. The second is to create a replicable model of community participation for creating other social infrastructure in the region to strengthen their sense of identity.

The brief has three primary programs namely a residential school for 400 students, a small medical centre and a space for vocational training.

Four thick parallel walls built using locally sourced laterite stone give the space its form. Aligned along the slope of the terrain these walls define the structure and shape of the complex. The footprint is limited to 45 x 135 meters, leaving most of the site in its natural state.

The building is oriented along the North-South axis, and the roof has a substantial overhang to reduce the amount of sunlight received by the walls. The laterite walls also serve as the primary structure for defining movement routes, open courts, and access to the complex.

The linear volumes between parallel walls house various programmatic requirements like classrooms, student dormitories and extensive facilities. The light roofs float above the parallel walls, allowing fresh air to flow freely between the roof and the ceiling, leaving walls with apertures as a possible façade. Controlled views of the landscape through staggered openings are a feature of the plan. The interior quality of the complex is shaded, fresh and airy, creating a shadowed oasis from the climate outside.

The proposal deploys low-cost construction making the most of local materials and skills, using the potential of the local community while adapting technology from the industrialised world in a simple way. Laterite stone, which is abundant in this region, is chosen as the primary building material along with a restricted palette of compressed earth bricks, structural steel truss, locally sourced wood and corrugated metal roof extrusions. Rough and untreated surfaces impart the character of the landscape into the building form.

Location: Jharkhand, India
Client: Stem Minerals LLP
Typology: Social Community Centre
Year: 2013-14
Size: 4731 m² 
Status: on hold

Recognition:

• The European Centre for Architecture and the Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Awards, 2014, USA
• Holcim Awards Asia Pacific, 2014, Switzerland

Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Santosh Kumar, Bharat Kumar, Sai Kumar, Vamsi Kundanam

Urban considerations: We intend to give back the ‘Princess Park’ to the city by restoring its connection with its adjacent roads. An underground tunnel connecting to the grounds of India Gate can be much more than mere function, serving instead as an active space of memory. It can become a memorial promenade whose walls act as a canvas for acts of bravery. This integrated response between the park, the museum and the memorial can forge a new urban connection.

Museum’s central idea: The museum is a floating pavilion, tied together by beams and with the ground plane left free for public movement, gatherings, and displays of military tanks and fighter aircrafts. This porosity serves as a counterpoint to the fortified character of its immediate precincts. We have avoided simply placing “objects” in a park – instead, choosing to situate the museum and its entrance pavilion such that they delineate urban edges along the Copernicus and Tilak Marg. These ‘walls’ are floating and dematerialized through canopies of trees.

Layout and growth system:  The military barracks on-site shared certain relationships with their internal streets and trees. These are maintained by a new rhythmic system of parallel bays made of habitable service walls. The dense texture of the old city is abstracted such that one discovers an inner world of courtyards, corridors and inward-facing balconies, as one traverses the museum.

The elements of the proposal are organized in a sequential loop – from entrance pavilion to museum, culminating in a memorial tunnel that leads to the India Gate gardens. This urban tension with the India Gate is accentuated by a vertical element that arises from the museum’s horizontal “texture”.

Location: New Delhi, India
Client: Ministry of Defense
Typology: Museum
Year: 2016
Size: 60000 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Germán Müller, Fernando Royo, Jesús Garrido Valdivia, Mario Yañez Aller, Niharika Sanyal

In the midst of this barren landscape, we imagine the campus as a place of retreat, like an Oasis, that is created by resurrecting the landscape. These garden courts become centres of the campus life, facilitating encounters between inhabitants. A main void anchors the entire ensemble, while allowing for multiplicity through creation of several internal courts.

As a student-centric place, the proposal questions existing typologies of campuses to achieve a non-hierarchical typology. Instead of treating academic and residential life as silos, they form an integrated whole. Mixing between zones creates a vibrant campus. The campus is a dense, self-shaded ensemble, with multiple variations possible within an established order. Interconnectivity between courts and paths allows one to discover the unfolding oasis.

Considering that campuses are built incrementally, deployment of a simple module allows different programmatic components to grow in phases. Through a modular steel frame structure, a pre-fabricated approach towards construction is adopted.

Location: Nagpur, India
Client: MNLU
Typology: University
Year: 2017
Size: 42000 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Germán Müller, Fernando Royo, Jesús Garrido, Mario Yañez Aller, Niharika Sanyal, Bharat Kumar, Manish Kumar

Centro Cívico del Norte: Además de dar solución a un programa concreto, el desafío que este ejercicio plantea es el siguiente: cómo regenerar un sector urbano a partir de la acción proyectual. En respuesta a este problema, entendemos que el potencial de la intervención radica en una acción general: la creación de una “plataforma de intercambios”, un espacio de carácter público que se desarrolla en la totalidad de la parcela.

“El Centro Cívico del Norte” queda constituido entonces por la construcción de la Sede Gubernamental y por la creación de un Parque Recreativo, ambos programas entrelazados por múltiples vínculos y solapamientos generarán nuevas sinergias de apropiación, novedosas relaciones programáticas y fortalecerán la valoración y el sentido de pertenencia de la comunidad sobre el espacio público.

La “arquitectura” de la plataforma queda configurada por diversos lugares de encuentro, escenarios de múltiples vínculos posibles. Espacios permeables a los intercambios entre la Institución que representará y la comunidad que lo apropiará.

El paisaje restituido: La propuesta urbana se fundamenta en la identificación de las sendas preexistentes en el lote que forman parte de la “memoria peatonal” de la comunidad. El proyecto contempla de esta manera implementarlas como conectores barriales y como ejes estructurantes del parque recreativo.

A su vez esta trama se funde sobre un sistema de espacios de orden público de diversas características: la plaza cívica y atrio sobre la avenida, la plaza como “patio” estructurando la propuesta arquitectónica y el parque como “naturaleza dominada” amortiguando la intervención sobre el barrio.

A modo de acción concreta, se pondrá en valor la arboleda existente de sauces y jacarandás en el lote y se sumarán especies nativas con el propósito de restaurar la vegetación que originalmente constituyó el monte y la pradera pampeana. De los claros de este monte surgirán los espacios deportivos y de esparcimiento que el programa requiere. Así también el parque se consolidará como un espacio de contacto espontáneo, conocimiento y reflexión acerca de la problemática de la flora nativa santafesina.

El sistema y el patio: La “Sede del Centro Cívico del Norte” es un edificio ordenado, riguroso y a su vez un elemento que se acopla al sitio a través de un sistema flexible de crecimiento y manipulación. Cuatro piezas, cada una de 27x27m de lado y patios interiores de 17x17m, configuran un sólido basamento permeable y delimitan el perímetro construido con una altura constante de 3m, conservando la escala doméstica y barrial que posee el contexto inmediato. En deliberado contraste, la secuencia espacial interior de dilata en su sección para alojar los usos que así lo requieren.

El encuentro de dos de las piezas en sus vértices define el ingreso principal al edificio desde la plaza sobre la avenida. El acceso opera como “excepción material” en la continuidad casi absoluta de la caja mural. A partir de este punto, el edificio va perdiendo su hermetismo inicial, desmaterializando sus envolventes en una secuencia de conexiones a nivel peatonal y visual que atraviesan los patios y se proyectan hacia el espacio público exterior.

Sobre la grilla de un módulo estructural de 5,40m x 5,40m se organiza la totalidad del programa del edificio. Un sistema de doble centralidad de carácter público materializado por dos “patios cubiertos”, que albergan el hall principal y el salón de usos múltiples. Perimetralmente a estos, se estructuran tres patios vegetales: el administrativo, de carácter privado e introspectivo; el patio de juegos infantiles, materializado por una pérgola que define el acceso del personal y la expansión del bar, y por último, el patio configurado por el bloque se servicios para el parque recreativo, que sutilmente subraya el eje de conexión intrabarrial.

La solución programática propuesta favorece la dinamización de los usos, una clara disposición del edificio en horario matutino o vespertino, así también la simultaneidad de usos del SUM y las demás dependencias conservando su autonomía relativa.

La técnica y la huella energética: Las decisiones a nivel constructivo responden a dos variables concretas, por un lado a la capacidad de la materia elegida de envejecer dignamente con el transcurso del tiempo y su baja necesidad de mantenimiento, por el otro en el dominio pleno de una técnica arraigada en la tradición constructiva de la ciudad de Santa Fe.

Sustentado sobre un módulo estructural de 5,4m x 5,40m el sistema constructivo, fundado en zapatas corridas de hormigón, se define mediante muros portantes perimetrales y pilastras huecas de ladrillo común de cara vista de 0,90m x 0,90m, las que podrán alojar canalizaciones para las instalaciones que requiera el proyecto. A su vez, la totalidad de las cubiertas a 3m de altura será ejecutada mediante losas macizas de hormigón a la vista. En contraste, tanto las cubiertas del hall principal y del SUM, que “flotan” sobre ambos espacios, serán nervuradas.

La arquitectura que el edificio propone, no es indiferente a la problemática energética actual. El proyecto ha contemplado desde su origen una serie de acciones pasivas tendientes a reducir la energía necesita para funcionar. Desde el esquema de patios y filtros solares que favorecen microclimas, a la recolección de agua pluvial para su aprovechamiento hasta acciones complementarias como la implementación de calefones solares.

Volver al barrio: “El Centro Cívico del Norte es un sistema se espacios de múltiples encuentros, es democrático, horizontal y sin jerarquías, convoca a los vecinos, y los hace visibles en toda la ciudad, es flexible, dialoga armoniosamente con el barrio porque conserva su escala, la escala de los espacios que los vecinos habitan, el patio, la plaza, la esquina, el potrero…”

Memoria de los autores
Diciembre, 9 / 2016

Location: Santa Fe, Argentina
Client: Municipality of Santa Fe
Typology: Civic Centre
Year: 2016
Size: 1400 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal (Selected Finalist)
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Franco Morero, Manuel Martinez, Fernando Royo, Germán Müller, Mario Yañez Aller, Jesus Garrido Valdivia

After driving for miles through dense forests, she is surprised to arrive at a stark clearing. Pausing, she parks her car under a human made grove of pine trees. She sees something defining the clearing’s edge to the west. What is it?

The long horizontal passage is like a threshold between the open clearing and the dense forest beyond. Its muted form evokes the memory of a traditional barn in the rural landscape of Latvia. She passes by spaces meant for people to gather and camp as she takes a long stroll towards the forest edge. As she walks, it’s as if the normal world is left behind. When she is ready, she crosses into the threshold. Like a veil, it frames the forest into smaller parts. Seeing it like this, she feels prepared to cross over to wild nature. As time passes, She walks the length of the continuous passage. To the west, she sees the forest of pine trees, to the east; she sees the empty clearing but never witnessing both at once.

The contrast fills her with both fullness and emptiness. She experiences standing between the limitless sky and the thick woods. Her fingers touch the rough wooden logs-fallen, aged members that know the passage of time, that embrace her in soft shadows, like a dark cocoon, rugged to the touch. Standing in this place of passage, she is ready. She steps into the breezeway connecting east and west, and crosses the threshold, into the forest. She is surprised to see how porous the wood is, as open and vast as the clearing, but in its unique way.

Location: Riga, Latvia
Client: Kemeri National Park
Typology: Visitor Centre
Year: 2018
Size: 900 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Jesus Garrido Valdivia, Bharat Kumar, Vamsi Krishna, Carlos Gonzalvo, Bob Peniel, Vaibhav Saxena, Reethi Tallam, Niharika Sanyal

Creating a new public link: Our proposal seeks to create a new outdoor public axis from east to west in the urbanscape so that visitors can enjoy the park next to the existing museum building with an increased ease. It does so by widening access points to the museum complex. A pavilion proposed along this route constitutes the main urban attraction by defining a new gathering space here, and housing a cafeteria. Instead of creating a visual landmark, our proposal seeks to establish a dialogue with the existing museum building and its landmark tower. As visitors walk into the park, they see a subtle void carved into the ground, whose narrow proportions seem to generate a dialogue with the museum’s tall tower, almost as though it were its shadow. This piques the visitors curiosity and invites them to explore the hidden intervention below ground. In this way, our proposal offers first and foremost an urban connection, upon exploring which the proposal’s subterranean existence is gradually and experientially revealed.

The Garden Pavilion: The translucent glass-and-steel pavilion marks a new threshold between the existing museum building and the park. And yet, its presence is very gentle, serving to frameing the old building and difining boundaries of the public park. By taking most of the functions underground, the park above ground is left as a spacious green space that can be used by people in multiple ways in the spirit of social and cultural change, and become a vibrant thoroughfare for the community. The pavilion’s orientation also creates another plaza of a more intimate scale to the west of the museum, where we have opened up a new entry. Housing a café with outdoor terraces, the pavilion connects directly to the underground annex. The structural rhythm of the pavilion is abstracted in a contemporary language from that of the existing museum building without mimicking its neoclassical façade.

Access and functions: The two-storied underground annex can also be accessed via a wide flight of steps that leads down from the courtyard of the existing museum. This creates a seamless connection between the old and the new. Once underground, visitors arrive at the sunken void, around which are carved various functions, like the exhibition spaces, restaurant, educational rooms and other public amenities. A double-height exhibition space occupies the lower level and forms the main core. Its bay width allows for various formats of exhibitions to be hosted, and several access points make it easy to navigate the spaces. Controlled natural light filtered through skylights lends the underground spaces a glow.

Material and systems: The underground structure is primarily made in concrete, with the spaces and interior façades following the proportions of the existing building. The distribution of courts and walkways in both the old and new buildings bears similarity. This, along with the rhythmic similarities between the two, lends coherence to the whole. In these ways, instead of celebrating the differences between the annex and the existing museum building, our proposal seeks to establish continuity between the two.

Location: Helsinki, Finland
Client: The National Museum of Finland
Typology: National Museum Extension
Year: 2019
Size: 4000 m2
Status: International Competition
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Javier Ugarte Albizu, Carlos Gonzalvo Salas, Jesus Garrido Valdivia, Bharat Kumar, Vamsi Krishna, Bob Peniel, Niharika Sanyal, Tanvi Jain, Mario Acosta Bejarano.

The intent: How can an educational space nurture character? Its domestic character, inspired by the houses in this region, and sequences of streets and intimate gardens, might lend the children a sense of being ‘at home’ in school. Although created as an informal learning environment, the school is marked by an institutional element – a common area from which the whole is perceivable – which helps to achieve a sense of unity within the multiplicity created by the various spaces that surround it. These range from intimate gardens to open playgrounds, outdoor sports areas and finally, the community sports arena near the forest edge. These spill-out spaces encourage various degrees of social interaction that, we believe, might nurture a collaborative spirit. Defining these spaces are a series of blocks arranged rhythmically along the site’s southern edge. These seemingly autonomous linear volumes are linked together by a free-flowing street. As one meanders through this street, the spatial experience varies – one moment, one is in a garden, and the next moment, in a double-heighted corridor. Along this curated path, one discovers nooks and corners for play, and niches through which to glimpse the forest intermittently. This direct linkage between all three schools might encourage a flow of ideas between students of different age groups and the staff. Equally, there is a lack in hierarchy across the entire complex, with all functions having similar expression. In keeping with this overall spirit of the place, the internal spaces of learning are created such that they allow for ‘freedom’ and individual choice. The classrooms can have flexible layouts – allowing for possibilities for exploratory groupings as well as for break-out spaces. This acknowledges a spirit of facilitation rather than instruction. The classrooms, furthermore, spill out onto teaching gardens, which serve as spaces for relaxation between classes, where plants can be grown as part of the education.

Materialisation: The proposal’s sense of materiality has evolved as a reinterpretation of the rural house. It‘stacks’a wooden floor on top of a seemingly heavy stone base so as to create horizontal layers. This stratification helps to break up the height and scale of the buildings such that they are less institutional in character, making the spaces more relatable for the children. A sensory stimulus is crucial for the development of children and this natural palette of materials lends warmth and texture to the spaces. This is expressed across the whole complex, as well as in its parts. The entire structure is made in wood by adopting a Gefaltete folded system, with infill of stone and wooden boards. This allows one to span the internal volumes without a need for intermittent columns, which aids in the internal flexibility of the learning spaces. Repetition of this structural system makes it easy for the school to expand in the future. On the northern side of the volumes, glass is used to heighten transparency and enable views to the forest.

Location: Losbates, Czech Republic
Client: Municipality of Losbates
Typology: School
Year: 2018
Size: 27220 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Niharika Sanyal, Jesús Garrido Valdivia, Bharat Kumar, Vamsi Krishna, Rishita Suravarapu, Leo Ciccione

The proposal deploys the most fundamental principle of the Islamic tradition, namely the sense of unity, to create a new city-level place of worship that can accommodate daily users and a large Friday congregation.

The prayer hall and the accompanying annexe volume – housing cultural and educational activities open up to a plaza with a symbolic minaret. Set on a plinth raised 4 meters from the ground level on northern and western sides, the square can be accessed directly from the main street on the West. The plinth houses shops and a parking garage.

The exterior does not reveal the size of interior spaces that unfold slowly. The interior layout allows for flexible use of areas without altering the spatial experience.

The main worship space can accommodate up to 2500 people, 1500 men and 1000 women, performing their daily prayers. Location of the plaza at the same level facilitates the expansion of its capacity up to a maximum of 6000 during certain religious events. Each gender has its own prayer space accessible directly from the street level. The women go directly to the second level the men enter from the level of the plaza. The ablution space and the prayer area are separated to ensure that there is no humidity transfer.

The double-hull fenestration system, comprising of metal screens and the vertical glass surfaces act as a thermal barrier between the building inside and outside. It also serves as an acoustic buffer between the prayer hall and the street. Red-pigmented exposed concrete defines both interior and exterior facades. The complex aims to resonate the building features of Balkan region – plain asymmetrically disposed cubic volumes built of stone masonry, with pitched roofs.

Location: Prishtina, Kosovo
Client: Islamic Council of Prishtina
Typology: Mosque
Year: 2012
Size: 36925 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal – Selected
Recognition:

• WAN International Awards 2014 (Best Civic Building), London, United Kingdom
• International Architecture Awards 2015, Australia

Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Sai Kumar G, Vamsi Kundanam, Mario Galiana Liras, Javier Ugarte Albizu

For us, this project is as much about taking the opportunity to define the diffused limits of the Glacis more clearly – and to reposition the Karlskirche as an important component of the square – as it is about creating additional spaces for the Wien museum. Our initial concern was to determine the kind of extension that would best complement the existing museum. We felt that the present volume should continue to define the visual limits of the square as they are today. However, the program requirements stressed the need for additional, discrete exhibition spaces. Consequently, our emergent idea was to configure an ensemble of independent additions – a novel aggregation – rather than proposing a single new volume. Our goal has been to find an architectural expression that could accommodate a range of unforeseen activities that might occur in both the museum and the Karlsplatz square in the future.

Our proposed extension is thus an ensemble of four distinctive components: a colonnade facing the square that houses all the active public functions; a trapezoid-shaped volume inserted into the colonnade – a key feature that introduces a visual distinction between the old and new – a single-floor rooftop addition to host additional exhibition spaces; and a basement level volume accommodating further open display and service areas.

In sum, the proposed extension ensemble does not aspire to transform the museum’s existing image: rather, it seeks to create a dialogue between familiarity and novelty, between old and new, creating an enveloping structure to engage with the endless progress of change at the Karlsplatz site.

Location: Vienna, Austria
Client: Wien Museum
Typology: Museum
Year: 2015
Size: 6900 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Prathyusha Viddam, Javier Ugarte Albizu, Jean Baptiste Peter, Mario Yanez Aller, Bharat Kumar, Celia Fernandez Duque

Location: Berlin, Germany
Client: Staatliche Museen Berlin
Typology: Museum
Year: 2015
Size: 26000 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana, Bruno Sirabo, Germán Müller, Bharat Kumar, Mario Yañez Aller

The brief was to design a six-storey retail and entertainment complex overlooking the road connecting the city’s central business district to its continuously expanding periphery. The challenge was to speculate on how the building could respond in a context devoid of character and scale. The building idealises breaking away from the notion of the urban container that necessitates the boxing of the individual entertainment and commercial units.

The project was visualised as floating amorphous geometries, resigned from constraints of an envelope yet unified by the transition between these volumes. The idea was to create a sequence of spaces either completely open or completely enclosed. The fragmented size and large voids accentuate the heterogeneity of its urban setting. The location and form of these volumes result from a series of forces acting on each other - a complex overlapping of sight lines, building code requirements and the aspiration to integrate with its neighbourhood.

The simple floor plans vary through the six floors depending on the form of the volume, size and orientation. Retail outlets, offices and food courts occupy the three lower floors. Movie theatres are covered but not enclosed. Art galleries and small-scale restaurants have panoramic views on the upper levels. Open ramps connect different levels of the building and create a ceremonial experience.

The building is characterised by the use of pour-in-place concrete and defined by a series of shaded terraces that allow a continuous movement of air – a place in shade, so crucial for buildings in warm climates. The permeability of these spaces instils in the user a sense of place that weaves them into the broader urban fabric.

Location: Hyderabad, India
Client: Automotive Corporation
Typology: Office & Retail
Year: 2012
Size: 12800 m² 
Status: Proposal
Recognition:

• Azure International Awards 2012, Toronto, Canada
• Architectural Review Future Awards 2014, London, United Kingdom

Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Santosh Kumar, Bharat Kumar, Sai Kumar Vamsi Kundanam

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Client: Water and Sanitation Argentina SA
Typology: Adaptive Reuse and Extension
Year: 2016
Size: 22000 m² 
Status: Competition Proposal (Honourable Mention)
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Germán Müller, Fernando Royo, Jesús Garrido Valdivia , Mario Yañez Aller

The objective was to design a retreat house for a retired couple in their ancestral village somewhere along the eastern coast of Andhra Pradesh—some 20 km from the coast.

The main challenge of the project was to create a house that blends in the middle of a village with some of its homes dating back to the late 19th century. Though the village stopped growing since Independence, it exhibits remarkable consistency in terms of how the houses were carved out of larger walled compounds. None of the houses open to the narrow streets directly; instead, they connect to the open spaces they demarcate within the compound. The volumes exhibit a definite geometry with scope for additive growth without losing their relationship with open space.

With the objective to retain this spatial quality, the house is conceived as a series of enclosed rooms, some open to the sky and some roofed, and the building exhibits a clear hierarchy through scale depending on their intended use.

The houses in the village seem to be well preserved in spite of the hot and humid climate. The houses have mud walls with lighter roofing. Keeping this in mind, we propose to use exposed brick as a principal material with wood as the secondary material.

These two materials define the expression of the project.

Location: Bhatlapennumarru, Andhra Pradesh
Client: Private
Typology: Retreat House
Year: 2016-19
Size: 200 m² 
Status: Under Construction
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Mario Galiana Liras, Vamsi Kundanam, Manish Kumar, Bharat Kumar, Prathyusha Viddam, Bob Peniel

Our proposal seeks to reinforce the Gyeonbokgung Palace as the symbolic heart of Seoul and the main element of the Gwanghwamun Square. We propose a symbolic void as a forecourt to the palace – a breathing space – that reminds of the palace’s historic sense of continuity with the public realm. A continuous tree cover emanates from its edges, integrating the palace with the fragmented cultural and public buildings along the stretch of the Square. This dilutes the visual dominance of the high-rises and enhances the walking experience by introducing a literal ‘breathing’ space in the city.

Thus tree-lined boulevards are distributed on either side of the currently isolated island of Gwanghwamun Square, while the roads move towards the central axis. This axis connecting the mountains to the north and south is believed to be where the peninsula’s “spirit” flows, and we propose to symbolically heighten it by extending the boulevards southwards. This would also integrate into the overall ensemble of the Seoul City Hall, Seoul Plaza and Deoksugung Palace.

The Palace forecourt essentially serves as a place of gathering, while the boulevard offers a place of movement. The forecourt offers emptiness, while the boulevard offers refuge under a canopy of trees. By combining these two kinds of ‘breathing’ spaces – which are seamlessly connected through pedestrian underpasses – both passive and active spaces, daily and non-daily spaces, with their respective and varied activities can be accommodated simultaneously. The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and Sejongno Park are integrated as a seamless continuum of outdoor spaces with the boulevard. The spatial territory of the Gwanghwamun Square extends up till the old waterways to the west and east, thus integrating them into the overall schema, with an expanded green cover.

Location: Seoul, South Korea
Client: Seoul Metropolitan Government
Typology: Urban Restructuring
Year: 2019
Status: Competition Proposal
Collaborators: Madhusudhan Chalasani, Jesus Garrido Valdivia, Bharat Kumar, Vamsi Krishna, Bob Peniel, Vaibhav Saxena, Reethi Tallam, Niharika Sanyal, Mario Acosta Bejarano