A new office building emerges from the relationship between resources and environments at the first Basel Mission Tile Factory, Jeppu, Mangalore
The site of the project is the first Basel Mission Tile Factory in India, built by Protestant Missionaries after the design of the Mangalore roof Tile in 1865. Tile making was initiated to give employment to Christian converts, supporting the Pietistic principles of work as worship underlying the Basel Mission. The industry rapidly grew to supersede the spread of the Protestant Mission in India - the Mangalore tile became better known than either the Mission or its city of origin. Reduced demand, shifting preferences in construction and depleted sources of local clay have led to a severe decline in the industry. This has condemned the majority of the factories to abandonment and/or demolition. Out of approximately 75 factories functioning in 1994 only two factories in Mangalore now consistently manufacture tiles. The Commonwealth Factory no longer produces tiles, but has found a future in the production of terracotta hollow blocks, bricks and hourdi blocks.
With the tile industry in a state of decline, the Commonwealth factory is currently used to manufacture hollow terracotta blocks but retains the infrastructure and environments of tile production. The new office building sought to provide an impetus to the factory and terracotta industry by housing the current staff and products and synthesising some of the ideas underlying the original factory.