Blending design and philosophy-Article, Nandini Sundar

Architect Sen Kapadia says buildings are bodies of confined space that inspire human activity. Nandhini Sundar

Architecture is all about functionality and sustainability. The structure must be tuned to the movement of the wind and the sun and the secret lies in allowing the structure to speak the language of the spaces. The pristine white Mumbai office of octogenarian architect Sen Kapadia, of Sen Kapadia Architects, speaks loudly of this design philosophy. While the immaculate white walls are bereft of pictures and models, the expanse of the space is naturally lit with beams streaming in through an incision made strategically on the roof. For him, ‘architecture has to be an experience of living, with the building conceived as a body of confined space that inspires human activity’.

And learning never stops for Kapadia. “Connecting with multiple people from varied streams makes the learning curve wider and richer,” he says. And his philosophical approach to design is not surprising given his early association with legendary architect Louis Kahn, a philosopher among architects, during his tenure at the National Institute of Design (NID). His interactions with other eminent architects such as BV Doshi, the inspiration from Aurobindo, further brought in another dimension to his philosophy and approach to design.

Design languageKapadia’s designs are minimalistic, yet powerful in their language, the fluid structures looking into the future, the spaces contemporary in style, the structures evolved keeping firmly in place the wind and the solar movement. “In good architecture the space becomes a place with experience. All our temples bring in this experience.” Stating that tomorrow’s art has no definition, he contends, buildings too should have no definition. “It is not merely designs, but solutions offered to a perceived problem,” explains Kapadia, pointing to the many out-of-the box approaches he had adopted in coming up with his designs. A lake was to come on the IIM Ahmedabad campus, but it did not because of the perceived mosquito menace. This could have been solved by installing a fountain along with water turtles to disturb the surface water. The fish to eat up the larvae, he explains.

Medieval street

The 15-acre NID PG campus project at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, which he won in a design competition, incorporates a medieval street with buildings opening on to the path while the individual structures bring in the sun patterns, while flanked by greenery around as well as on their roofs. Deep recesses shade the buildings from the harsh sun while the north side is left open for entry. The low structure is craftily designed to merge into the landscape, thus blending the built and unbuilt spaces into a sustainable compact experience.Courtyards with their concrete trellis further allow diffused light to filter in, forming interesting patterns while cutting heat ingress. Arches prevail, each cut into interesting unconventional forms, their slants cutting the heat while serving as structural art in the courtyard. The lounge for the faculty reveals equally interesting design and experience, the walls folded without a set pattern or rhythm, yet forming the poetic rhythm of the space.

The office building ‘Trellis’ reveals his unique design inclination. Structured 30 ft. wide and 80 ft. high, it had to be shielded from heavy rains and intense heat, the bane of Mumbai city. Kapadia came up with a solution by opting for a skin for the building that also served as an aesthetic façade.

This took the form of a shield made from perforated aluminium, where the jaali permitted ventilation and natural light, yet served as a protective armour. The porous façade was punctured to break the monotony of the aluminium shield, the windows wrapped in grills emerging in these punctures where they were ingeniously slanted to cut the harsh light. And also appearing as a deliberate aesthetic intervention in the structure.