Odharia Jay Maheshbhai

AR2014

Known as the golden city for its yellow sandstone buildings, the town of Jaisalmer in Thar desert faces a unique conundrum today. Impressive fortifications, palace complexes, temples and houses containing distinct culture, have attracted visitors from all over the world creating an enterprise for its residents in many ways. The project is a Visitor centre, designed by understanding and interpreting the architectural attitudes of Renzo Piano. The idea is to create a public space at the entrance of the fort and multiple public pockets harboring activities. The parallel walls are grown out of modulation at a domestic scale dictated by a stone construction. The project celebrates the communion of local sandstone and industrial steel. A sense of lightness is achieved through a canopy of solar panels that sheds the entire project.