We visited Pen yesterday and looked at this cooperative society - on a 14 acre plot, designed on the principles of Laurie Baker's ideas for architecture. Most of the houses here are in bricks and they are quite simple. The pictures above are of Ar. Rohit Shinkre's studio house where he comes occasionally on weekends to work peacefully on his designs.
The house is a spiral on a contoured land. Steps take to you landings that become livable spaces. The upper floor has a studio room which takes a table. The most interesting part is the roof - the timber free cost effective filler slab roof. It gave a clean look and also felt very light. The spaces inside were voluminous. However, I remember one comment made by Gautam - he said that the siting of the house doesn't allow enough circulation of air. Probably he was right.
The moss that grew over irrespective over every thing looked really interesting and fascinating. It filled up the cracks of benches, made the sloping roofs green and made the rough bricks soft. Layers of leaves coloured the floor. I did not see much flowers. Over all my experience was boring.
Firstly, I am not a great fan of Laurie Baker. I feel his works are lifeless. Secondly, the green was overpowering. Something was missing. Thirdly, the house we stayed in was far too basic. We did not talk to any one, students did not interact, probably they were too tired of the week and Shinkre's lecture was a lecture!
Just putting up more pics here!
No comments:
Post a Comment