THAI
ME UP
By
: Shimul Javeri Kadri
CLICK
ON THE IMAGES TO
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This
little building stands on the busy Lamington Road surrounded by rundown
buildings noisy hoardings, cinema theatres and glitzy stores.
Building
Typology : A
narrow long building surrounded by " house gullies", 2'- 0" to
3'- 0" wide on the average. The load bearing - brick structure
was restrenghened some point with steel beams and columns at every
10'- 10"and slabs of steel and shahabad were laid to create the
floors. |
| Our
Challenge:
To exploit fully, the character of this rather
whimsical structure
- to enhance it and breathe life into it as a place for celebration. The
other challenge as with all such spaces was to accommodate the services
- especially air - conditioning in so tight a space. |
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What
we did :
No false ceilings! We used the house - gullies
for AC ducts the
thickness of the coba for the electrical conduits and succeeded in retaining
a clean structure. We enhanced the structural elements with wood in parts
and exposed the steel in others.
Thematically,
on all three floors, the illusion of " openings" has been
dramatized. |
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On
the ground floor, the punctures in the walls look onto the walls of
the neighbouring building, but their presence distracts
from the monotony of the long &
narrow space.
The
first floor uses lively dummy windows to create the same impression
and the
top floor dramatises the effect with colonial gothic railings set
against midnight blue walls. |
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