Steel - Weaving

Darshan Dedhia, Khushi Bagrecha, Radhika Choksi, Sayli Zantye, Tanuja Vartak

Conceptual Ideas

The initial inspiration for the pavilion emerged from the canopy form of the tree. The canopy weaves within itself, bifurcates and then tapers back together to interlock, thus forming a strong shading element. This logic gave rise to our structure which is a portal system of very thin triangular members. The space is intended to be used as a Dyeing exhibit where actual materials used in the dyeing process would be displayed along with the method- for the museum at Paithan.

Since the climate of Paithan is Hot and Dry for most of the year we thought of creating an entirely wall-less space where the structural system is made of portals that weave together to form a g+1 structure.

About the Structure

The steel portals formed of cylindrical steel members of diameter 10cm are formed by a triangular geometry where instead of one thick member we decided to divide the member into two and weave it together in a tapering form which is held together by horizontal braces.

The portal geometry then started giving way to the configuration of spaces which is essentially a circular form divided into semi open to closed spaces with bamboo blinds forming the cladding material such that at any given time the entire space can be completely opened up.

The railing and balcony spaces also emerge from the geometry of the structural portals themselves. A spiral staircase in the center leads you to the level above. The intention to not have any closed spaces is for free flowing ventilation.

For the foundation, since the soil is black cotton, it was necessary to replace that soil with murum soil.

Above the pcc and soling we have used a concrete block to which the hollow steel column can be anchored.

The metal plate has box steel section of 8×8 cm due to which we can bolt the column from outside

Learnings and Critiques

• The crits revolved around how the structure could be woven better, while simultaneously increasing the span of members which would help in structural integrity. The portal ends should be curved such that one member can be bent to achieve the form of the portal instead of welding individual pieces together.

• Woven bamboo mat for roof required more detailing as the structure is curvilinear and standard mats are square or rectangular in shape.

• References such as the Green School Bali helped understand the level of detail of the structures.

• Learnt about the properties of Steel and tried to bring out the material property in the structure itself by moving away from the typical steel sections and modifying the idea of a beam and column.