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A Kit-of-Parts

︎︎︎ Collaboration under the mentorship of Ar.Samir Raut.
︎︎︎ Exhibition Making - Architecture Design and Craftsmanship.


‘A Kit-of-Parts’ as I call it now was a year long collaboration anchored around the act of Making and the love for it. It was a contemplation in architecture design and space resolution with laborous attention to the craftsmanship and detail. The process culminated into a series of light weight temporary structures made primarily with paper and cloth held together with plywood joineries. Each structure was essentially a reconfiguration of a modular kit-of-parts that could be assembled in innumerable ways. 

The structure in its many forms was hosted in several locations:
1. As a House at the School of Environment and Architecture in Mumbai
2. As a Pavilion at the Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi
3. And then finally as a Garden at the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur.

The act of making being the central driving force, the entire project was imagined from the perspective of production, costs, manufacture, sustainability, transport, assembly, labour and time.
no skilled labour, no heavy machinary
Modularity emerged as an important aspect.

A sense of resolution in the process of construction.

1. The ‘Making a House’ at School of Environment and Architecture (SEA), Mumbai, and at

The brief was to set up an exhibition of the works, mainly architectural study models of Samir Raut. And instead of using the white box gallery, the choice was of using the open area outside to build a 1:1 model of one of the houses designed by the architect. The house which is one of the exhibits, itself becomes a container, to hold its own exhibition within it. 


The house is a study house, a house to study, with study models, all looking for the ‘ideal house’
which emerges from various studies of floor plans of an “ideal house”
Study model

built on the foundation in the stilt area of an architecture school, the light paper and cloth structure below the heavy concrete and brick building.

2. Delhi Sound Work in the pavilion by Ish S and DiFfuSed beats

The function spills over out vibrating through the sound and makes it a pure container

3. ‘Five Gardens’ for the ‘When is Space?’ exhibition at the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur.


Outside Correa’s geomtry, it lies outside.
An experience of walking into a porous, yet permanent, and rigid, yet transparent space was caliberated.

The pavilion, opens up revealing itself to the surrounding landscape, flora and fauna. Courtyards of wildflowers and turf form within the pavilion as well as on its periphery making the pavilion seamless and eliminating the presence of a harsh boundary. There is a sense of being one with the verdure while experiencing the lines strict lines dissolve around you.

The pavilion/house reveals itself to the surrounding landscape, flora and fauna in novel assemblies. The project intimately plays with economy of material, pleasure of craft and lightness of structure. While the pavilion seamlessly connects the outside with the inside, it lends itself to create personalised spaces within itself.
In the pavilion, space is structured around five gardens so that the boundary between the inside space and outside space is diffused. The effort here is to break down the space to human scale, get the landscape inside and work out precise details with the material at hand. 

The idea of the ‘Pavilion’ is very important for this exhibition. Pavilions were built in various traditions across all cultures. In north India, the Mughals built pavilions. Here in Rajasthan, the Rajputs built pavilions. They called it Chatris. The pavilion is an experimental architectural type. Built for expos and other temporary events, pavilions do not have the burden of being either permanent or solving any problem or accommodating any specific human activity. They are loosely used as places of rest. Pavilions are spatially interesting as they blur the boundaries between the inside and outside. We invited architects to build pavilions as these offered them possibilities to explore space
This pavilion is an amalgamation of ideas whose genesis lies in the context of its placement. In a country like India where geography and climate change every five kilometers, the very idea of making a house changes in its form, usage material and planning, all reflecting and evolving with its changing landscape. Through these changing conditions comes the exploration of various materials and methods of building and assembly ideal for each unique context and situation.