Gyaan Ashray
Architects: Chaal.Chaal.Agency
In an experiment to create a temporal space for a community, Gyaan Ashray is designed as a collapsible, modular, tensile structure using pipes and a combination of castors and hinges. Built with the involvement of the community and a batch of design students, the structure can be deployed on rooftops and covered using household fabrics. The lightweight frame makes it feasible for the assembly kit-of-parts to move and the temporariness ensures that the resultant space does not require heavy architectural elements anchored to the building on which it sits. The layers of the fabric are formed into two protective canopies that seemingly allow light and air to infiltrate keeping sharp glare and direct heat at bay. The construct seeks to find a conceptual middle-ground between permeance and ephemerality. The cleverly detailed informal space tiptoes the fine line between legal and illegal making it an elegant and affordable spatial strategy: a kinetic, habitable sculpture that circumvents the obligations of a defined space and therefore, the Gyaan Ashray by the Chaal.Chaal.Agency is a Commendation Project for The Merit List.
Images & Drawings: courtesy Chaal.Chaal.Agency