Play of volumes and voids

By Beverly Pereira

Photography: Sameer Tawde

 

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A miniature concrete model by Material Immaterial Studio builds on the idea of space as an inherently formless vapour that constantly surrounds our being...

“Ideas choose materials,” opine Architects Nitin Barchha and Disney Davis of Mumbai-based Material Immaterial studio, who have conceived a table-top miniature set of nine concrete buildings, aptly christened SPACES.

 

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Based on the premise that staring at the miniature architectural form, may evoke people’s imaginations, when they take a breather at their home or office desks, the architects play on the psyche of visual imagery and consequent flights of fancy that can serve to unleash a variety of emotions. From being inspirational, and unleashing a sudden spurt of creativity; stress -busters thru’ sheer preoccupation; or even adding a quirky spark to a drab routine, one can opt for more than a  single block to play with their desired configuration.

 

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The individual blocks, when linked together around a central ‘kund’, form a community-like space that might take the viewer on a journey into the unseen and the imaginary. Sparing no detail, the blocks feature such elements as stairs, passageways and window-like openings. When locked into one another, each piece flows into the next, making for a fluid composition.

 

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Playing with volumes and voids, the architects experimented with poured concrete over a period of six months, comprehending proportion, form and the configurational ultimate to arrive at the final model of nine spaces, where each block is detail-complete, both individually as well as in its various compositions with one or more other blocks.

 

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Such architectural masterpieces as Le-Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, and Tadao Ando’s Church of Light served as inspiration; the major challenge being the scaling down of architectural details to perfect elevations.

 

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SPACES is available for sale at The Kulture Shop, Mumbai, and at The Tadpole Store online.