City: MUMBAI

Taking cues from the organic housing layouts of old Indian cities & villages, this housing project has an informal layout.

Part of a masterplan of a 36-acre self-sufficient housing project being developed for the personnel of a cement plant, this project is located 3 km from the closest small city amidst open land all around with no other development in the vicinity.

A large open landscaped park punctuates the overall masterplan with studio apartments, smaller & larger apartments, a school & a club along the perimeter of the site. 

Within an area of 6 acres (24281sq.m.), a mid-rise buildings housing 72 studio apartments, 48 nos. of 2-bedroom apartments and 48 nos. of 3 bedroom apartments are planned in an organic layout.

Each building is designed with sheltered open courtyards naturally ventilated circulation spaces & garden spaces between them.       

All the apartments are designed with recessed windows, sheltered balconies & cross ventilation to mitigate heat gain in response to the hot climate of the location where temperatures remain in excess of 35°C for 8 months annually. 

Color plays an important role in the project. Different color combinations identify the different building typologies within the housing. Vibrant colors are an integral part of traditional festivals, clothing, ornaments, housing & food in India. 

This project is 3km away from a very small city and 90 km away from the closest large city. To invoke a sense of vibrancy as a response to its isolation & simultaneously imbibe traditional Indian culture. Colourful hues accentuate the buildings & their circulation spaces. The internal spaces of each home is in neutral colors allowing the occupants to have their own choices. 

Since the overall layout is planned with a large 36,000 sq.m. garden, the apartment buildings are designed to create intimate sheltered spaces between them. These spaces are varied in each part of the layout by the organic nature of the building placement, creating multiple spaces with varying degrees of enclosure & shape. All the water is recycled and reused within the project with its own sewage treatment plant. Extensive rain water harvesting is integrated with the planning. The design ensures & facilitates natural light and ventilation to all the spaces within. 

Designed in response to the climate, imbibing traditional planning principles& cultural responses. Shree Town is a contextual housing project designed sustainably.

Shantanu Poredi is an architect, urbanist, academician and the co-founding partner of MO-OF / Mobile Offices Architects in Mumbai.  He studied at the School of Architecture at CEPT, Ahmedabad (1995). After a brief professional training period with Anant Raje, he worked with Architects Combine, Bombay for four years after finishing from Ahmedabad.   He further pursued his Masters in Architecture (Urban Design) on a J.N. Tata Scholarship grant during 1997-1998 at the Architectural Association, London. In 1990-2000 he worked as an assistant architect at Terry Farrell and Partners, London.  

In 2001, he founded MO-OF along with his partner Manisha Agarwal in Mumbai. He is currently visiting faculty at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai where he has been teaching since the past 18 years.

He has been invited to lecture and also present the firms work in Amsterdam, Berlin, Shenzhen along with several other cities and towns in India. He has also been invited to speak at Indo German Urban-mela at Bangalore. 

His areas of interest and concern are design of offices environments, Healthcare institutions, educational institutions, exhibition design and art collaborations.

MO-OF/  PROFILE

MO-OF/ Mobile Offices is a design practice set up in 2001 in Mumbai which focuses on Architectural, Urban and Interior design. The studio is led by two principal architects Shantanu Poredi( AA, London; C.E.P.T. India) and Manisha Agarwal (Cornell, NY ; C.E.P.T. India).

The firm has completed projects of various program categories such as educational campus, hospitality, residential communities, offices, exhibitions and healthcare. Our project, Shifting Voids: Student Housing at the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada was awarded first place at the XIV International Competition of Architecture and Design “EURASIAN AWARD 2018” in Yekaterinburg, Russia. And the GRIHA award for the SPA-V campus for passive energy design

The firm has also won the ‘Architect of the Year Award’ for a university group housing project in 2010 amongst several other awards. The firm had been invited to design the visitors pavilion at Urbanism and Architecture Biennale at Shenzhen, China in 2013. They have exhibited at the Aedes Gallery in Berlin and have been invited by the NAI and Dutch DFA for workshops and as speakers at conferences in Netherlands. 

MO-OF’s interest in architecture and design stems from the debate on the evolving cities and the potential it offers a designer. The engagements with communities, the context the works are situated in, create design frameworks for the architectural rhetoric. The primary issues that the practice engages with are Social, cultural, environmental sustainability – these issues usher explorations that transform building types and typologies.

Ideas are tested through the various competitions the practice engages with at all levels. This has led to an opportunity for realizing some of the largest projects of the practice. The firm has anticipated research areas that have raised curiosity with diverse subjects and ushered the practice towards an unsolicited architectural realm. The belief is that a repository of design knowledge is available to each member of the team working towards growth within the firm’s life cycle. The essence of the practice is embedded in the idea of collaboration with diverse co-creators. The practice has been informed by pedagogy and academic research through a multidisciplinary approach to design and its execution.

Manisha  Agarwal is an Architect, urban designer, academician and the founding partner of MO-OF Architects/Mobile Offices in Mumbai. She studied at the School of Architecture at CEPT, Ahmedabad (1996). In 1994 she received a fellowship for the student exchange program at the Bezalel Academy of Arts. Jerusalem, Israel. After a brief professional training period at Reinhold Pingel in Auroville, she worked with Kiran Kapadia Associates, Bombay after finishing from Ahmedabad.

She further pursued her Masters in Architecture (Urban Design) during 1998-2000 at Cornell University, New York where she received several scholarships. In 2000-2001 she worked as a project architect at Rafael Vinoly Architects in New York.

In 2001, she founded MO-OF along with her partner Shantanu Poredi in Mumbai. She is also currently visiting faculty at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai where she has been teaching since the past 12 years.

Her areas of interest and concern are community housing, educational institutions, hospitality 

MO-OF/ Mobile Offices is a design practice set up in 2001 in Mumbai which focuses on Architectural, Urban and Interior design. The studio is led by two principal architects Shantanu Poredi( AA, London; C.E.P.T. India) and Manisha Agarwal (Cornell, NY ; C.E.P.T. India).

The firm has completed projects of various program categories such as educational campus, hospitality, residential communities, offices, exhibitions and healthcare. The firm has also won the ‘Architect of the Year Award’ for a university group housing project in 2010 amongst several other awards. The firm had been invited to design the visitors pavilion at Urbanism and Architecture Biennale at Shenzhen, China in 2013. They have exhibited at the Aedes Gallery in Berlin and have been invited by the NAI and Dutch DFA for workshops and as speakers at conferences in Netherlands.Our project, Shifting Voids: Student Housing at the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada was awarded first place at the XIV International Competition of Architecture and Design “EURASIAN AWARD 2018” in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

MO-OF’s interest in architecture and design stems from the debate on the evolving cities and the potential it offers a designer. The engagements with communities, the context the works are situated in, create design frameworks for the architectural rhetoric. The primary issues that the practice engages with are Social, cultural, environmental sustainability – these issues usher explorations that transform building types and typologies.

Ideas are tested through the various competitions the practice engages with at all levels. This has led to an opportunity for realizing some of the largest projects of the practice. The firm has anticipated research areas that have raised curiosity with diverse subjects and ushered the practice towards an unsolicited architectural realm. The belief is that a repository of design knowledge is available to each member of the team working towards growth within the firm’s life cycle. The essence of the practice is embedded in the idea of collaboration with diverse co-creators. The practice has been informed by pedagogy and academic research through a multidisciplinary approach to design and its execution.

THE INSTITUTE @SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE,  VIJAYAWADA, BUILT UP AREA:  29200 SQM 

The School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, attempts to make the campus an institutional centre in the city of Vijayawada. The institutional building is a platform for academic debate, exchange and dissemination and becomes a deep gateway and an interface to the entire campus. 

The Institute draws on the austere ideologies from Brutalism as a form of expression as a response to the extreme climate, and positions it contextually in Vijayawada. The design demonstrates a scale akin to a public building on the outside and the inside explores the didactic nature of space by creating a humane scale apt for an engaged student community.  The large volume is punctured by voids, creating a rhythmic play of light and shadows which allows the building to respire; thus yielding spatial patterns that perform as a scaling device. The design focuses on the diversity of individuals and the vastness of a community and creates Interdependent programs that offer a multitude of interactive spaces that would be beneficial for a community experience.

The relationships between three sections -The Parasol, Concourse and the Platform have been structured into a three dimensional constellation that is informed by movement and varying levels of privacy of diverse programs.

PARASOL– The top most section of the building houses the morning programs of the learning curriculum such as classrooms and studios. It also acts as a volumetric parasol roof for the lower floors creating a shaded environment below.

CONCOURSE – The middle section of the building is a ‘Stilted Platform’ that allows for student activity. This zone is a reminder of the traditional courtyard that anchors common public and community programs. It behaves as a concourse to the entire building as it filters and mediates the movement of people. Smaller courtyards work as three dimensional light wells which offer visual connectivity through the layers above and below. This ‘Universal zone’ is occupied by faculty, students, administrators and visitors enabling non programmed exchange.  

The PLATFORM-The bottom most section becomes a heavy base to a floating canopy. The base houses the afternoon programs of the learning curriculum such as workshops and Laboratories and is cladded with local Tandur stone which increases the ‘Time Lag’ for solar- heat gain. This solid platform is punctuated with voids that allow for hot air to dissipate.

MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION AND DETAILS:

The materials are used in their raw form such as the fair-faced concrete walls on the periphery of the higher floors, local tandur stone in riverwash finish for cladding the base of the building and polished/ riverwashed tandur stone is used for flooring; Corten Steel is used as a louvered screen along with precast jail screens in certain areas.  AAC Blocks with 70% fly ash content have been used. Energy consumption has been reduced through efficient lighting, HVAC, appropriate glass etc., solar panels have been provided.  

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINIBILITY:

The building demonstrates responsive environmental architectural concerns through passive design strategies for an extreme hot and humid climate of Vijayawada.  

Climatically the building harnesses the prevalent winds of the Krishna river basin to create cross ventilation and provide human comfort by convection in this hot and humid region. The courtyards funnel winds through the building and enable cross-ventilation, thus regulating the diurnal temperatures. The multiple voids render the building block porous, allowing the hot air to get extracted from the building, the northlight windows bring in natural light in the studio spaces, the parasol shades the informal spaces below reduces energy usage for a building thus enabling it to be a model of passive energy design of building in harsh climates. The use of rainwater harvesting on terraces, solar energy for lighting, local materials, treating of waste all create a sustainable model of design for an institution of learning. 

SOCIAL SUSTAINIABILITY:

The built environment is choreographed as a campus that is open, accessible and democratic in nature, breaking formal barriers between the street and the building envelop so as to bring education closer to the public realm thereby challenging contemporary hermetic organizational structures of educational campuses across the world.

The concourse is connected by multiple amphitheaters and stairs creating a platform for people, thereby making the architecture both interactive, inclusive and socially sustainable. The boundaries of the inner spaces are blurred to initiate conversations across the corridors, double height spaces and through voids.  The voids of the building form visual connective networks across departments of architecture and planning schools dissolving the floor wise stratification of the building by spatially connecting programs with stairs in varied configurations across the section of the building.

The building intends to create an interactive community learning environment nestled within its cultural context with a keen focus on environmental sensitivity.

In the context of Alibaug & Dolvi village, where large overhangs & sloping roofs protect against the intense monsoon, where outdoor spaces like courtyards, verandahs & balconies are widely used in this sea-side climate; using natural Light & ventilation, expressing compassion, wellness & beauty, is a 73 bedded Rural Community hospital (expandable to 125 beds) built for the people of this region, over phases on a 5 acre land, off the Mumbai-Goa highway.

The design of this G+2 hospital is planned around 3 lush courtyards that act as a relief or “point of pause” both architecturally & to allow Patient waiting, interaction & wellness. The main North entrance overlooks the Central Court that is punctuated with a central staircase, suffused with light and is adequately sized with wide passages on either side, allowing a lot of waiting areas that in-turn overlook the West Café Court and the East Diagnostics court. The Main entrance lobby is completely free and calm of any actions expected in a hospital, with only an information kiosk and the registration & waiting is all tucked inwards overlooking the West court, this in a way allows an inviting & welcoming entrance area that guides patients and family through various signages to help orient oneself & access various departments. Waiting areas for all critical & non-critical zones are most often, skirted around the corridors that run along the courtyard and at times these bubble into the courtyard like jharokhas/balconies.

A continuous balcony runs along the 2nd floor North and South faces & intermittently at 1st floor level, to in-turn act as deep overhangs for lower floors in this intense sea side climate that receives a lot of rain. Deep overhangs & sloping roofs respond well in this seaside climate, as well as bringing in warmth and a humane scale to a rural multi-speciality hospital that is earthy & rooted.

The connections that we make with the outdoors govern our paths navigated through a building. Clear direction and distinct adjacencies in zoning and circulation for staff, patients and their family have been key in ensuring that even through times of distress, the hospital and its created bio-diverse micro-climate enables a calm and healing environment that allows for clarity of thought and actions to negotiate through space, and establish a recognizable personal setting that is fundamental in patient recovery.

Unlike urban hospitals, our attempt has been to naturally ventilate most of the clinical spaces such as In Patient rooms, wards & wide corridors to avoid patients and healthcare providers being subjected to the high risk of contracting airborne diseases in closed door spaces. Air conditioning has been strictly limited to critical clinical spaces keeping in mind least possibility of infection transfer. Smooth and calm recuperation has been at the heart of designing spaces such as balconies along patient rooms and wards thus enabling their path to recovery through safe engagements with movements like walking and sitting along these balconies. These also create possibilities for interactions and communications amongst patients thus speeding their path to recovery.

Over & above patient friendly spaces, the planning focuses on the hospital staff being able to avail ample break out spaces such as balconies, terraces and courtyard to de-stress with a birdsong or watch the sun set!

Details of Construction Materials :

RCC framed structure with a piled foundation & aerated concrete block masonry as external and internal walls. Pitched roof in M.S structural steel sections with mangalore tile- profiled metal roof. Cantilevered balcony slabs have been structurally counter balanced by suspending them from the pitched metal roofing framework.

Special Features :

Gold limestone as flooring across all circulation ( non clinical ) areas tie into a visually strong, warm and clearly perceivable connections to smoothly navigate through the building with utmost clarity. Nature/Vegetation/Greenery are synonymous with healing and that has been the main motto of this building: to create connections with people and nature. This thought has been extended into the art program integrated within the building using the tribal Gond & Kalamkari art that depicts nature at its best! Rain water incident on the hardscaped areas and terraces have been augmented into a storage tanks connected back into the water supply loop for flushing and irrigation. Slag as a by product and waste generated through the process of steel production has been used in plinth filling thus saving soil!

Area:                      225 sq.m.

Location:              Tala, Maharashtra, India

Client:                   Forest Hills, Tala

Completed:          December 2016

Tree Villa at Forest Hills, Tala, Maharashtra

The Tree Villa perches on the cliff of a 160 acre hilltop ‘treesort’ property surrounded by a meandering river landscape. The idyllic setting in Tala on the West coast of India, is a stone’s throw away from the Kuda caves. Nearly 20 centuries ago, Buddhist monks instinctively understood the qualities of this meditative landscape and made the hills their home. The Tree Villa was conceived as a celebration of this landscape by creating  a series of blurred transitional spaces with different levels of transparency and openness within this forested tropical setting.

Upon arrival, a timber bridge takes the visitor off the forest floor on to a large stilted deck that wraps around the house and culminates on a viewing platform.The constant reminder of breathtaking views enhances a reflective ambience that is mirrored throughout the house. 

The architectural elements of the house have been carefully curated, each conveying a message of its own: the bathroom enclosure is crafted out of vertical timber slats filled in with mirrored panels that reflect the surrounding forest and the other forms occupying the space.

They are abstractly reminiscent of tree branches that droop, giving nature opportunities to peek through within a constantly animated shadow play of hide and seek. 

The horizontal openness and airiness of the large voluminous space below a dominating thatched roof is emphasised by wrapping it with a layer of operable glass. The curved corners of this glazed wooden framework display a panoramic exhibit of nature. The curves create a sensual kind of luxury and bring softness to the space. A second layer of a tie dyed bordered sheer curtains filters the harsh light during the midst of the day and nestles three other enclosures as well. 

The villa accommodates 4 adults and 2 children. The functions included provide for two double beds, a loft bed for children, two bathrooms, a lounge, a place for breakfast or paying board games with an outdoor deck and a large viewing deck. Rather than compartmentalizing those activities into distinct rooms, the main space is broken up by three smaller enclosures that are positioned within it, ensuring a visual connection to the forest in multiple directions from all rooms: a pantry-cum-loft unit, a semi-outdoor bathroom and a curtained bed enclosure act as anchors and define interstitial zones such as the breakfast room and the lounge. The free flowing circulation in between creates visual permeability across the plan. 

As smaller spaces within a larger space, the bathroom and pantry-cum-loft are enclosures made out of a wooden slatted framework and filled in with white plexiglass.

The pantry unit contains all the services of the room and a small kitchenette. The top of the unit is accessed with a wooden ladder and provides an additional bed. Looking down on the surrounding forest it is almost like a ‘pirates nest’, a great cozy hideout for young kids. 

The enclosure of the semi-outdoor bathroom encloses an outdoor courtyard but also protrudes into the glazed interior space. An old Garuga fruit tree punctures the floor of the outdoor bathroom. One branch enters the room and exits again through the thatched roof. Other branches spread across the outdoor bathroom before  exiting through multiple circular openings in the enclosure. A free standing bath tub and the indoor-outdoor feel of the space make it an ideal relaxed setting. 

A large luxurious king size bed within a soft linen fabric enclosure can be open or closed off depending on demands of privacy.

A spiral staircase connects to a secret lower level that is suspended below the tree villa. This guest suite is on one side backed by a rock outcrop and on the other side surrounded by a thick forest. You can take a shower here with merely a curved glazed sheet separating you and the forest life around you. A timber floored outdoor deck and attached staircase invites you to take a hike in the forest. 

Elements and textures as parts of the structure are focused on coexistence. The monochrome colour scheme of the space along with an eclectic mix of partly restored and partly custom designed furniture pieces give the interior a bohemian vibe. The restraint in the colour palette highlights the surrounding greenery.

Similarly, the crispness of geometry and the slender proportions the enclosures are a premeditated effort to amplify this untempered wilderness.

The volumetric composition of partly white, partly reflective and transparent surfaces within a wooden framework animate and lighten up the space. It questions conventional definitions of exterior and interior and reinterprets notions of privacy and exposure within a hospitality environment. The spatial composition in an otherwise traditional tropical roof structure lends a sense of softness, sensuality, intimacy and complexity, making it a perfect setting for a retreat into the wilderness of Tala.

The project for a couple in their late 50’s is located at Panshet (outskirts of Pune) overlooking the Panshet and Varasgaon dams. The site is steeply contoured and access to the site is from the top with the view in the background. The house is located primarily at one level with only one guest room tucked below the living room verandah. The house nestles itself amidst the slopes and helps negotiate the level differences from west to east (5 M) and from south to north (almost 20 M).

The parking garage has a flat green roof that merges with the hill plantation (wild grasses) and becomes the entrance place for the house under a slab with circular light punctures. An existing tree was carefully preserved at the entrance forecourt and adds to the character of the entrance area. The living, dining and kitchen are distinct spaces each having their own character and along with the sleeping rooms are organized around a stone deck court and infinity edge swimming pool. The master suite has a verandah and a studio for the artist wife of the family for her creative works to be pursued in this vacation house. The dining space is akin to a wooden pavilion with diffused light from its very modulated door window configuration. Landscaped terraces and light courts help integrate the built volumes with the land.

Materials

The house uses a natural stone palette alongwith plastered surfaces. A red laterite wall is the constant feature along the light courts as one moves from the parking through the house to all bedrooms and acts as a backdrop. The house sits on a black basalt random masonry base over which the roof casts deep shadows onto the plastered surfaces. A white sandstone in varying textures is used as a flooring throughout the house and integrates the interior and exterior of the house through the stone finish. The Mangalore tile roof with a teakwood soffit finish from the inside and the wooden doors and windows compliment well with the off-white stone flooring to create a seamless experience across the project. Copper roof gutters are used only where necessary along with a copper bucket down-take system that enhances the experience during the rains. The steel structure for the roof is articulated to accommodate the special features of the roof shape and
design.

Special Features

The house creates a microclimate for itself with the use of light courts that also provides adequate ventilation throughout all the spaces. A raised stone deck flooring (open jointed) ensures the interior /exterior spaces are seamless in their grade changes and eliminates a conventional plinth in this heavy rainfall region. Each room commands views of the lakes and dams and the house has a clear orientation towards the views with the infinity pool and surrounding deck being the center around which all the activities are arranged. A solar farm produces all the energy needs of the house and the house is off the main electrical grid. Water recharge pits harvest all the rainfall within the courts and the clever uses of retaining walls reduces the water run-off and ensures percolation of ground water. The continuous modulated roof with its large overhangs adequately protects against the swirling and angular heavy rainfall characteristic of the region and ensures complete water tightness for the entire house. A clever use of the RCC slabfor the parking helps integrate with the hillside and makes the car park  disappear on the approach. The louvered windows (both horizontal and vertical) ensure control and modulation of light for interior spaces along with adequate ventilation.