Studio re-connect

03/11/2023

interesting to see the process!!

22/10/2023

25/07/2023

Furniture design: Oil dispensing counter.

Production and sale of cold pressed oil was one among the many things that Gramsewa Mandal (GSM), one of the oldest pioneering Gandhian Institute in Wardha, was into. They required a proper counter for dispensing oil, instead of the large 8’x4’ low height platform they were currently using.

Given the characteristics of oil, I decided to have a 1” square MS framework for taking the load of the stock oil containers along with some plywood covering and two granite slabs for easy maintenance.

The stock oil containers would be placed on a low level granite slab for easy handling and maintenance, while the purchase containers would be exchanged via a higher level counter also finished with granite.

Small shelving above the stock oil containers were incorporated to keep bill books, wiping cloths, etc.

A typical counter was designed to accommodate 3 stock oil containers.

I also gave them templates to cut out the required pieces from plywood sheets. This was optimized to make 2 counters from 3 sheets of 8’x4’ 18mm plywood, while keeping wastage to a bare minimum.

Two such counters were fabricated and assembled in-house by GSM’s workshop team. Unfortunately, the end product that was made, was not as per suggested specifications. GSM for some reason (most likely economic optimization) did not incorporate the granite slabs. The laminate colors were also slightly different from what was envisaged. Other than that, it was as designed.

21/07/2023

Furniture design continued: This and the following posts are pieces of furniture that i designed, but got fabricated / built by someone else.

Remember me saying in a previous post that we converted our old shoe rack into a work desk for my son? That was because we needed a bigger shoe rack for our growing family. But we also wanted one that would double up as a seating bench when needed, not only for when tying up shoe laces.

In the process of designing a bigger shoe rack on sketch up, it made more sense to use a combination of MS sections for the main structure and 6-10mm ply for the partitions, top and side panels. I also incorporated two drawers for keeping stuff like socks and polishing equipment.

The overall dimensions are 4’ length, 1’3” depth and 1’ 9” ht.

21/07/2023

Furniture design / power tool carpentry continued:

When I took my kids to my sister’s house in Bangalore for a short holiday last year, I got a request from my sister to help organize the toy corner in her house. It was a pile of baskets and boxes of varying sizes. Given the corner and the contents, it made more sense to custom build a shelf than buy one.

This shelf was basically a scaled up version of my wall mounted shelf, following the same ‘notch’ detailing and narrower side panels. The difference was that we decided to mount these on wheels, instead of the wall.

We borrowed and hired the power tools we needed and with some assistance from my nephew and brother-in-law, we completed it in two days!

20/07/2023

Furniture design / power-tool carpentry: this post is about some of the pieces of furniture that I have designed and built myself, mostly using power tools and some simple hand tools.

1) high-chair (pic 1&2): when my son started sitting up on his own, we wanted him to have his own place at the dinner table. And so I decided to build him a high-chair. I went to Alag Angle in Nagpur, early in the morning and by evening I was back home with a pine-wood high-chair.

I thoroughly enjoyed building something with my hands (albeit with the use of power tools)! My son used it for long and now, 7 years later, it’s still in use, mostly by his younger sister.

2) toy-shelf (pic 3-5): my second build-it-yourself furniture project also arose out of necessity. With an increase in the number of toys my son was getting and playing with, we needed a shelf to keep all his toys organized.

I wanted something sleek and so decided to go with plywood instead of pinewood. I had a circular saw and a drilling machine at home and so, with a little help from my son, we built the toy-shelf at home, using less than a standard 8’ x 4’ sheet.

I made the legs from some scrap hard wood that was lying around, smoothened all the edges using sandpaper and painted the whole shelf in a dark brown shade to give it a slightly finished look.

3) shoe rack turned work desk (pic 6-9): for my third design-build project, I again went to Alag Angle in Nagpur, to make use of their pine wood and power tools. We wanted a closed shoe rack design. While designing and building, I decided to incorporate 6mm plywood for the sides, to make it look less bulky.

After 2 years of use, we needed a bigger shoe rack and so this one was converted into a work-desk / storage unit for my son. I just bought a pine-wood drawing board off Amazon and made some minor adjustments to fit it on the top of the old shoe rack. My son was happy to get a work desk for doing his homework and artwork.

Continued in comments…

17/07/2023

Bay windows: technically any window that projects outside from the main wall surface can be called a bay window.

Bay windows can be designed for multiple functions:
1) as a writing desk (photo #1)
2) as a window to sit at (photos #2 & 3)
3) as a ledge to keep things, maybe plants (photo #4)
4) even as a sleeping alcove (photo #5)

P.S the 5th photo is from Laurie Baker’s own home in Wagamon, before they shifted to Trivandrum. The first four photos are from our own projects.

17/07/2023

we are living in a geologically relatively unstable epoch - the anthropocene - since 1950!

Lake Crawford in Ontario, Canada, has been chosen as the site with the sedimentary record that will be used as the dividing line between the Holocene and the Anthropocene.

12/06/2023

Researchers have pointed out that the combination of construction densification and sea level rise implies an increasing inundation hazard.

Researchers have pointed out that the combination of construction densification and sea level rise has triggered the sinking of New York City.

02/06/2023

Brick corbels: a simple method of projecting successive courses of masonry out from the face of the wall, so as to form a shelf or a ledge or even a corbeled arch over an opening. The most important rule to be remembered when building a corbel, is that the overhang / projection of any corbel should not exceed 1/3 of the thickness of the original wall.

Here, at a project near Bhor, we have used the corbeling technique to build a bay-window for sitting at. The entire window is projected about 1’ out from the face of the wall, so as to create a ledge, which also projects on the inside, for people to sit at or even lie down. The base slab of the bay window measures 5’9” long/wide and 2’7” deep (clear dimensions - excluding space taken up by window and walls). Sufficient to accommodate 2 people sitting comfortably or one person sleeping.

Corbelling is used only on the outside as that’s where the load of the window is. The base slab is simply cantilevered for about 15” on the inside. Last slide shows a cross-section of how loads are transferred.

29/04/2023

"Lari's mission during her 'second' career has empowered the people of Pakistan through architecture, engaging users in design and production. She has shown us how architecture changes lives for the better... She has reacted imaginatively and creatively making affordable projects that address the real and often urgent need for accommodation, and basic services."

Yasmeen Lari, widely recognized as Pakistan's first female architect, has become the first woman since Zaha Hadid to win the prestigious Royal Gold Medal, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).