TY - ART T1 - Student Hostel, Kadapa Y1 - 2008 A1 - Quaid Doongerwala A1 - Shilpa Ranade A1 - Tapasya Katta A1 - Tapasi Mittal AB -

The Student hostel forms part of the large campus of a newly established University, located in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India.

PB - DCOOP UR - https://www.dcoop.in N1 -

A bold forest of concrete columns and filmic views of the surrounding landscape add to the feeling of frozen movement embedded in the architecture of the Hostel. The apparently random columns rise up to meet a patterned waffle slab which precariously supports the swiveled blocks; making the heavy forms feel as though suspended in air. The diamond pattern of the waffle is  carefully worked out to balance structural rationality and a poetic sensibility. This visual dynamic sculpturally interlocks the patterned filigree of the revealed structure with the solid forms of the building. In addition, climatic and construction concerns have led to the introduction of another key graphical element – the concrete jali (screen), a traditional element reinterpreted in its pattern as well as construct. An older template is used to cast a new jali in concrete, adapting traditional labour intensive processes to a mass fabrication technique.

The inherent (and inherited) belief in space as a protagonist of architecture, has led to the creation of common spaces of varying scale and character, that thread through the entire building as a strong narrative - knitting together vividly patterned shaded nooks, delicate terraces overlooking the landscape, dramatic overhangs, canopied areas, and multilevel arenas for students to occupy. The structures are further punctuated through the use of earthy colors, where each modular block and public path is coded by a specific color.

The Hostel is a carefully crafted form emerging out of a spatialization of lines and a collage of spaces. The amalgamation of concepts of movement, positive-negative actions, publicness and community, create a dynamic and lightweight structure that simultaneously inculcates strong volumes and bold spaces.

ID - AZ-CF-188025 ER -