AR2004

Faculty: Mehul Bhatt | Rajan Bhatt

Strange Details

Architecture is largely perceived as an expression of an idea/concept/intention. But its manifestation is rooted in the realities of construction and nature of materials. The negotiations between these aspects result in some unique and often strange details of architecture that are then communicated through drawings. This studio focused on the processes of these negotiations and communications by taking students through a journey of evolving and communicating their own 'strange' details. The studio strongly believed in enabling the students' knowledge and understanding of technology to evolve a poetic quality of architectural expression. The initial research investigated the nature of the materials as well as spatio-formal expressions of selected buildings. This process is was simultaneously carried out with hands on documentation of selected building elements and material surveys as well as through secondary sources. The studio projects are were designed such that the architectural grammar was derived from an informed, evaluated and considered use of structural elements and materials, environmental responses, and the issues of resources. Through these exercises, students understood how structural necessities are transformed into sculptural forms and the fundamental elements of the contextual environment inform the architectural tools to come together to evolve architectonic poetics.