AR13 is established
with a moral of giving back to the society through its architectural designing. One of the
representation is there architectural studio itself which is a convertible space to work, play and congregate in an organized urban patch. The principle
architects of AR13 have their different areas of interest other than
architecture and interior; considering the same the space is designed as an
open studio with different possible nature.
Located on an
internal road of a finely defined urban grid of Vadodara, the architectural
studio is built in an east facing rectangular plot with an area of around 2600
sq.ft shares common wall with open plots on west and south direction while
north side abutted with a residential building. The building is
lined up as two linear blocks enclosing the major footprint of green space and
setting back to avoid direct south sunlight into the workspace. The building
block is juxtaposed in a way allowing liberty to have maximum usable plot area
when opened. As an initial phase the ground floor is designed considering the
possibility of future extension and nature of spaces up then.
Front elevation is
divided in two parts; a pedestal entrance gate and a parking garage gate. The
pedestal entrance in north-east side is through a concrete casted steps on a
water body with fishes and foliage. The entrance here is a threshold to calm
down senses while entering a creative space from busy roads. The adjacent
parking garage is a multipurpose area with a 30’ wide horizontal bi-fold gate
that allows partial privacy when closed and a thoroughfare from the street when
opened up, it is designed to serve as a parking space, workshop space, stage or
a back room for an event.
Straight from the
pedestal entrance the studio space is a linear building spatially divided as
waiting area, discussion area and working space; continuing to pantry, material
library and washroom as the peripheral spaces. The enclosed area comprises of
only wall on north and west side, else two sides are large wooden openable
doors connecting the green spaces.
The basic material
palette of wood, concrete, steel and natural stones makes the interior feels
raw, edgy and belonged in a lush green views with backdrop of Agra red stone
and concrete finished compound wall. The furniture in the studio is designed to
serve the ease of work and aesthetic purpose by playing with the combination of
materials. The workstations are designed as a connecting module with common leg
stand and storage with extendable surfaces to open large drawing sheets keeping
the desk top intact allowing to flaunt the individuality of each. The building is a
journal of experiments the architects wanted to do in material, structure,
openings and finishes.
All the openings are
treated differently considering its context and nature, thus all the systems vary from each other in nature and material but eventually makes the whole
space as one. The 32’ wide opening between workspace and deck are bespoke glass
progressive sliding shutters with a frame of composite material system - wood
and steel. The 32’ wide opening has large wooden sliding folding doors that act
as vertical fins to serves as sun screen in south side maintaining light and
temperature in the workspace. The parking garage gate is a 30’ wide steel gate
and a visual barrier which opens folding up and making a canopy.
The space stays dramatic
with an amazing play of light and shadow all along the day. The building
comprises of three different type of slab structure with different method and
finish. The garage slab is an inverted beam slab casted with conventional steel
shuttering and kept unfinished to keep it raw semi open space. The studio slab
spanning 32’ x 16’ with 7” of thickness is casted on a shuttering of handpicked
fine pine wood planks to get the natural wooden figures imprinted in the Ceiling. This slab contains a niche housing the
curtain and sliding door. Another is a small pantry area slab that is casted in
plywood shuttering with wooden batten grid showing neat and clean finished slab
with V grooves.
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