A case study of a small village, town, a villa, a , or a high-rise commercial or residential building. In-depth investigation of a single individual, group, incident, or community. Include experiments, surveys, or analysis of archival information.
India’s trade and transportation rely heavily on trucks and truck drivers, a profession that has seen a rapid decline in numbers, due to negligible amenities and excessive responsibilities. At present, truck drivers have little to no restrooms or pit stops during long-distance journeys. In 1982 for every 1000 trucks there were 1300 drivers available, this number has reduced to 750 by 2012 and predicted to be 450 by 2022. In other words, 50% of the country’s trucks remain stranded on road due to a shortage of truck drivers. We need truck drivers to make goods available to the doorstep of the shop. If this trend continues cities will fall short of food and groceries.
The Truck Drivers Village is a project designed for the truck drivers community, it sits on a 2.5-acre site. The building occupies only 7% of the site area and the remaining area is open space, parking and fuel station. Conceptually the facilities are arranged as a series of courts and verandas referencing the courtyard houses of the south. The courts are equipped with facilities to eat, to sleep, to hang out and to recreate. These facilities are supported with ATM, first aid, drinking water, toilets and bathing facilities, washing and drying clothes, salon, a convenience store and a workshop for trucks.
The landscape in the courtyard is rendered with huge boulders and discrete vegetation to create a micro-climathtt
The client’s rationale was to create a captivating space within the 1600 sq. ft. area that would serve as a restaurant with dine-in and take-away service. The aim of the project was to given a complete new experience to the diners of this 16 year old restaurant that had been shifted to a new location. The major criteria to keep in consideration was that the space was rented and thus the client insisted on developing a low cost design with the use of reusable material that would facilitate them to shift or expand in future. Client describes his personal inclination towards to a climatically controlled space with ample light and a moderate temperature inside the restaurant. All though, the client expressed many interests, he encouraged us to be imaginative and inventive while designing the restaurant so as to set up a vibrant, colorful and dynamic space that is appealing to any passerby from the front road.
Concept Note
Layout Plan
The first and most important basis of the layout was to allow maximum functional space utilizing that could support combined seating plans. The selection of the overall materials and finishes were made keeping in mind that the space was rented. Thus the entire process of selection was focused on low cost and reusable materials. To ensure a controlled climate inside the restaurant, number of alternatives for the roofing system was considered. Roofing material and insulation were thought for experiencing pleasant atmosphere in most cost effective way. Studying the climate and position of the sun throughout different months of the year, a north facing entry for the restaurant was adopted in order to minimize the heat conduction through the metal façade.
Design Process The layout of a restaurant was worked up on contemplating factors such as operational work flow and various placement options that could provide communal dining experience. The design and development process involved understanding the clients’ requirement, optimizing space utilization and maintain budgets while ensuring that the design remains focused on the target customers. Use of innovative material gave us a great opportunity to work with different joinery details and to play by overlapping materials. Also, according to the client’s requisite, the graphical aspect of the design was given keen attention keeping the entire ambiance of the restaurant colorful yet light. Soothing temperature being one of the chief elements, a cavity in the roof was created. As an addition, waste thermocol was installed to create a low cost insulation that would minimize the heat transfer from the roof. The ventilation provided in the roof plays a significant role in the design as well as function by encouraging the hot air to escape from the top.
Drawings:
Project Facts:
Project title – keshav kutir Restaurant Architect : Manoj Patel Design Studio
Clients: Neelima and Ashish Ganju Year of Completion: 2002 Consultants: Structural – Peu Banerjee Das Plumbing & Electrical – Sanjay Bhardwaj Cost of Construction: Rs. 1.6 Million Plot size: 450 sq.M Built area: 250 sq.M Contractor: Self-build
GREHA – House and Studio in New Delhi
The residence and studio is the home and workplace of the author/ architect, and it is sited in a rapidly urbanizing area on the edge of New Delhi, in a neighborhood with minimum urban infrastructure. The building, therefore, had to rely largely on natural resources for its life-support systems. The design emerged as a low-rise building with sloping roofs to regulate solar heat gain, and to provide shelter from the rain, using a low embodied-energy material like clay tiles for roofing. The sloping roofs also allowed the insertion of mezzanine floors without making the building too tall; providing a gallery overlooking the living area of the residence, and a loft for a conference area in the studio.
Entrance Verandah
The roof of the studio encloses a singular volume, thereby becoming a metaphor for a ‘shed’, having four discrete working spaces visually separate but clearly interconnected parts of the single volume. The two parts of the building, for home and studio, are connected by an entrance verandah directly approached from the public driveway, and separated by an open-to-sky courtyard off this verandah. The internal courtyard brings natural light and ventilation into the studio which is built against the northern compound wall of the property, thereby increasing the area of the south-side garden for the residence.
Entrance Courtyard
The plan form is ordered by a series of service spaces, like staircases, bathrooms, closets, and utility spaces grouped around the internal courtyard which forms the centre of the built environment. All habitable spaces are oriented to give major openings on south facing walls to allow the winter sun, low in the southern sky in Delhi, to penetrate indoors and maximize solar heat gain; while the summer sun, high in the sky, does not enter any of the rooms thereby minimizing adverse heat gain. Bedrooms on the upper floor have a pyramidal roof form with a ventilating monitor at the peak, which allows hot air to exhaust naturally and maintain thermal comfort in summer. In winter the monitor ventilation is closed by a set of trapdoors.
South Face of the Studio
The materials chosen for construction represent a wide range combining the natural and vernacular like, brick, timber, stone and terracotta, with industrially produced and modern steel and glass elements. Hot water is provided by a solar system, and the large area of south-facing roof can support photo-voltaic panels for generating electricity in future when the costs of these panels is affordable. The treatment of sewage and waste water was done by a linear reed bed along the boundaries of the plot. The energy balance, inherent in the design, made it possible for autonomous living with only marginal dependence on an unreliable urban infrastructure.
Manoj Patel Design Studio reuses the clay roof tile in the house to create an aesthetic appeal and minimise the direct sun light.
The client was specific about having minimum furniture in the interiors yet should dictate the modern aspects of the house. So the house caters to the artistic, colourful play of graphics with balancing and minimal furniture, define the warmth of the space. Each room, personalized furniture pieces, cantilevered staircase with the fusion of staircase railing, synthesis the overall outcome of the residence.
The decorative doorway and adjacent wall graphics give the foyer a modern theme based look. The beauty of exposed ceiling of the living room illustrates the use of lily gold colour finishes, with complimenting blue fabric furnishings, golden-yellow centre table and dark grey tv wall cabinet. Italian tile flooring gives a classic sense of luxury. The kitchen cabinets are simple, contrasting each other in lily gold colour with white textures. Also, the dinning area is set around the backdrop of the mural made from vernacular clay roof tiles wall garden, having the provision of plantations and lights and central vertical wash basin.
One of the master bedrooms on the upper floor represents a large, elegant ambience, achieved through the use of blue colour palette along with lightly textured laminates use for connecting wooden bed backdrop on both the walls in furniture. Another bedroom on the same floor represents one massive frame in pictorial graphics of pink colour palette in wooden bed backdrop, designed along with groove patterns emphasising the side elements through diffused lightings. From this, one can visualize the bold aesthetics touch added to the interiors with complete comfort.
The main living space with open sit out a garden and functional areas of the house include the kitchen, pooja space, master bedroom on the ground floor, while the upper floors have 2 master bedrooms, kid’s bedroom and a family gathering space on the top. Also, the elevated entrance steps give a secondary access to the sit-out garden on the ground floor as a connecting element.
The architect’s, screening strategy aims to research, discover and create new outcomes from vernacular material every time to stand boldly amongst the neighbourhood fabric. In current times, various costly and high energy consumption materials are used for cladding, which not only harms the environment but also disturbs the balance of ecology.
The design studio has explored another possibility for building screening by reusing of vernacular material, clay roof tiles for an Urban Dwelling in India to comfort its hot climate. The house features double-height volumes, where the east facade surfaces to clad clay roof tiles, depicting the play of earthy red textures with background glazing and white masses. The entire volume of the dwelling also replicates the pattern in the compound wall and entrance gate.
Here, the design studio took an initiative of finding an alternative, by reusing of the clay roof tiles in various pattern applications suitable for facade design in cooling the temperature according to the Indian context. The following concept also infuses the use of natural material in an eclectic style.
The double V-shaped clay tiles, used as a vernacular material, were transformed into an appealing element for the east-facing façade design. The clay tiles are centrally placed tilt at an angle in series, where the grid pattern casts a shadow on one another, by keeping the interior cool and reduction in temperature.
The pattern also displays an undulating aesthetics in straight arrangements of clay tiles due to its tilt installations. The layering of these clay tiles in a contemporary pattern is designed based on Indian temperature context throughout the day, where the background glazing transforms into a shaded element.
Thus the screening turns out to be an affordable and captivating formation, where the local craftsmen get the opportunity to generate more employment and increase their production.
First Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
Section
Section
Project Facts
Client: Mr Ripalbhai Project type: Private House Architect: Manoj Patel Design Studio Office Website: www.manojpateldesignstudio.com Contact Email: manojpatelstudio@gmail.com Completion Year: August 2019 Built Area: 250 Sq. Mt. Plot Area: 170 Sq. Mt. Project Location : Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
