The traditional architecture of a pluralistic and multicultural Cochin implies a sense of fragmented inhabitation amongst and below its dense trees. Courtyards, verandahs and streets provide climate responsive solutions to its social, economic and cultural life.
Mathrubhumi, as one of the largest media and communication companies in Kerala and now in Dubai is looking to consolidate its corporate structure in Cochin while maintaining local operations all over Kerala.
The solution was to essentially translate the porosity of the traditional urban environment through a series of shaded verandahs and courtyards within the trees as differentiated public activities while lifting the dedicated work spaces into the tree line. The ground is open to the public, articulated around a library bookstore, a café + incubation space and a 200 seater seminar hall sitting on the stepped kund referencing the waterfront and the “baoli”. Bricks from nearby __________ are the building block of the lower levels while the warehouse bridges on top provide deep verandahs below.
This proposal suggests the transformation of a multistory building into parts that address the scale and inhabitation of a public spaces at the ground lever and wider the trees as inherently different from spaces for private. Use floating within the trees, largely hidden from the eye level.
It also suggests the possibility of the building of the public-private barrier, essentially continuing the urban environment into the private domain.
- Shreyam Kumar
- Kozhikode, Trivandrum, Kerala
- None
- 30,000 sq.ft.
- Conceptualised
- Arjun Malik, Jay Jani, Manish Davane
- None
Consultants
- GES - Vivek Garg
- Em & PH - Zia Ansari
- Em & PH - Zia Ansari
