The campus of the CEPT in Ahmedabad, presents a variety of open spaces connecting the various buildings on campus, giving each of them a distinct foreground. A recent visit reminded me of the tensile structures that once existed there, created by the students of School of Building Science and Technology, under Prof. Kirit Patel. As part of the cultural celebrations of the Academic year 1999-2000, the open spaces of the campus were highlighted with a common theme - tensile structures.
Active open spaces such as the entrance and the college canteen area provided the setting for eye-catching explorations which would have taught the students much about this beautiful structural system.The well- shaded canteen area with its built up seating, had a lively extension in the form of two such structures, one of them being a sculptural expression with nylon ropes while, the other forms shaded seating area beneath its canvas surface.
Along the main entrance spine of the campus, one could see the building of the School of Interior Design, with its lush green lawn. Across the lawn, one encountered a variety of building forms ranging from the Husain-Doshi Gufa to the Vikram Sarabhai Center. The presence of a school of building sciences was heightened by an immense saddle shaped cable net. This mathematically generated filigree with its simple mesh knots, thick edge ropes and a beguilingly slender mast is in diametric contrast to the massiveness of the adjacent built forms.
The SBST students also developed a plaza in front of the SBST building, using HDP rope and agriculture shadenets, that alternated in the meshes of the cable net. The resultant shade pattern of lines and patches on the building façade and the paved plaza generated a spatially differentiated environment, while the entrance to the plaza was beneath a saddle shaped cable net surface with rigid edge boundaries. It bears to notice that a single typology was experimented with simply by varying the edge conditions,continuity and material. Possibly, a great learning curve was traversed in such a simple programme.
I look forward to seeing more @CEPT. Hope Shehzad is reading this.
hey.
ReplyDeleteActually only one structure that of which you call "HDPE rope and agriculture shadenets" was done by SBST students. And even that structure was not done with Prof. Kireet patel. The canteen structure, the rope structure was all done with Kireet sir, and all credit goes to him - and this was done by School of Interior design students, who have been doing structures almost every year, and their pass-outs today are doing incredibly interesting works in structure - which in a sense is so withdrawn from their course which has only three courses of structure, which has no substantial grounding. On the other end, SBST and SA have almost 6-8 courses, with calculations of concrete,steel etc etc. and still don't produce such people.
There is now an excellent fabric tensile structure with PVC fabric that was done in 2010 i guess, with two very otto-ish eyes in the center. By Dhaval Jotani. Do have a look. there is something new always!!!
and yes. I did read your post..
regards,
shehzad