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INDiiA  / z’ SHELL-ter

François Roche/ (Columbia GSAPP University) /scenario

Ezio Blasetti / (UPenn, Gsapp & Pratt) /computing

Stephan Henrich / (Angewandte + USC guest) /robotic

Camille Lacadee / (INDA Chulalongkorn University) /

A reading room as experimental structure in Bangalore / Gokarna …………….scripting/extracting/ staggering/scattering/assembling/roboting/decaying — local Laterite stone on the quarry location 

ALL pictures….>>>

INTRODUCTION

We will head down to south India, Karnataka, Gokarna, a fishermen coastal village where, tells the Ramayana, Ganesha disguised as a young boy tricked demon king Ravana on his way to (Sri) Lanka, and buried Shiva’s Atma Linga (phallus)… Today the land still perspires its traditions, as  a significant birthplace to south-east asian ancient epics and artistic practices.

Yet the state of Karnataka is also home to the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore city, churning out 250 robots every year.

The region is challenged today by new economies and modes of fabrication.This contemporary context is precisely the site of an emerging geometry. On the rocky plateau above the village an unusual ambitious project slowly surfaces, and provides us with the occasion to embrace India’s schizophrenic mind-set

On the rocky plateau above the village an unusual project slowly surfaces, and provides us with the occasion to embrace India’s schizophrenic mind-set :
The Study Circle Library, one man’s life dedication to literature, religion and philosophy in the form of books, has recently opened its new housing, as part of Pandrata Cultural Centre, an international platform for performing arts, where are notably thought Bharata Natyam and Kathakali, two classical south indian dance forms, consisting of detailed gestures and precisely defined body movements… 

STUDIO OUTLINE & PROJECT

Housed in the Study Circle Library, our design studio will be informed by readings, enquiries, interviews, and film-making. Switching between computation and hand/machine labour, we will develop and build an outdoor landscape-pavilion (20 m2) for reading books (indoor) of the library and performing arts (outdoor), from an on-going procedural experimentation with the local material, laterite - red porous soil, rich in iron and aluminium oxides, formed by decaying rocks weathered by tropical heat and centuries of heavy rain -directly extracted from the site.

As much as the assemblage, the extraction mode will be generative of  “z’ Shell-Ter” : carving, cutting, piling, interlocking, dissolving,  grinding,…

To optimise production and developp knowledge, the studio will work on:

. Research (laterite expertise, know-how, political and cultural involvements, rituals, folklore and literature, extraction-transformation symbiosis)

. Process – computation (logic of aggregation, scattering, staggering, stacking, with variable components, on Rhino Grasshopper and Python scripting)

. Material experiment (prototyping, test of resisting and decay, strategy of construction, machinism and robotic developements))

. Report (photography, recordings and film / stop motion during all the process of construction)

The work days life will be balanced between computation and hands-on work in situ (local knowledge, memories and know-how knitted with global tooling, computation and machinism) as exogeneous-endogeneous apparatuses.

A machine will be designed and produced to extract the Laterite with potential of water-jet creating a non repetitive component which is able to be re-introduced as a non-standard process to create the geometry of the experimental reading room. The knowledge of the cut will produce a specific “agencements” and assemblage able to renovate the traditional brick wall stereotype.

A report of the construction and opening will be done by a movie of 15 mn, with documentary art director including titles with credits, sponsorships…

This project (design, process, researches, documentation, construction, etc.) will entirely emerge from the collaborative work of our group, as a unique and engaged realization.

Blurring the limits between students and instructors, we will define together a strategy of co-responsibility and co-authorship.

References

-JantarMantar, Delhi and Jaipur, India – Rock Garden, Chandigarh, India – Tarot Garden, Toscana, Italy – Park Guell, Barcelona, Spain -Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Athens, Greece -Site of Reversible Destiny – Yoro Park, Gifu, Japan -Michael Jackson’s Neverland, Las Vegas-Desert de Retz, France-Labyrinths and other, England and USA-Ellora cave temple, Maharastra, India…etc.

Readings
The Ramayana
Excerpts from Michel Foucault’s “Archaeology of Knowledge”
Excerpts from Michael Rabiger’s “Directing the documentary”

Pictures

The differents pictures in this post are from the (n)certainties course (Columbia+Angewandte+USC university)

COURSE OFFERED

Design Build & Design Construction for Communities
Gen-ed _Critical Thinking in Architecture (influences / researches / formal (in)quarry in the form of documentaries)

-Scripting – Rhino Grasshopper / computation meanings and protocols

-Robotic logic-behavior-design

-Building/construction / robotic applied in low technologies situation

-Each day the starting point will include an early yoga meditation class and end it with a (optional) sunset swim & surf at the beach nearby…

Students

-10-15 selected students on CV from INDA (Bangkok)

-15-20 selected students on CV from anywhere

Schedule

Early morning yoga meditation class + sunset swim & surf at Kudle beach

Local expeditions to the stone-cut temple complexes of Hampi and Anegundi (Monkey Kingdom Kishkindya from the Ramayana and birthplace of Hanuman) + the sublime Jog Falls + other to be defined

Workshop closing ceremony + party –  film screening of the documentaries and fictions produced, performance by indian artists and dancers in the Z’shll’TR…

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ACCOMODATION / Namaste Yoga Farm – Gokarna Hilltop… /  http://www.spiritualland.com/accommodation /

WORKPLACE / Study Circle Library – Pandrata Circle Cultural Centre… / http://www.pandratacircle.com/

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Poster / just copy and paste