Building Systems
Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa
The café intervenes between the edge of the road and the Mandovi that flows along its length. The structure bulges from the promenade and dips back down creating affordances along this edge to sit, to wait, to lay, to eat. It allows for direct pedestrian connection from street level to the water’s edge and bridges the threshold between road and the recreational space of the promenade while creating new spatial possibilities for cultural events and gatherings. A collapsible frame extends over these steps that flaps outwards from either end; one facing the river and one facing the road. The frame transforms the space into a subtle enclosure that can be used as a theatre during the 15-day Serendipity Festival, to screen movies, to view performance arts, as a community gathering space or as a spontaneous stop.
The curtain mechanism allows the pavilion to adjust according to the need of the space and keeps it hidden or visible as per the requirement of the activity taking place within. The framework is made of wooden members and is cladded with woven textile that acts as a projection surface as well as blinds. Much like a stall, the side panels open up when in use, while at the same time the panels on opposite ends move outward and constitute almost like a counter. The pavilion allows for the flow of public through it as it creates a canopy that provides shade on the pathway without shutting it off completely. The steps get multiplied along the length of the promenade in units as halting points overlooking the river. These afford multiple possibilities as per the users need. Some become a partial enclosure, some as surfaces to lean against for a nap, some as levelled steps for discussions to occur, some as slopes to skate across. One can carry food from the kitchen to these structures where the seating itself becomes the chairs and table.
plan @ 1:100
transverse section @ 1:100
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transverse section(collapsed)
transverse section
cross section
section across the washroom unit
The kitchen gets located under these steps in a niche facing the road such that a seating for the café and the theatre space happens on top while the kitchen also becomes a take away counter. Its placement also aids the process of loading and unloading the raw material for its functioning directly from the road itself. The kitchen here becomes a halting point on the promenade for the pedestrians who are not interacting with the theatre. The kitchen becomes a performance itself overlooking the street. The podium is placed such that the river forms its backdrop. The seating for podium is not limited to the levelled steps but can also flow and spill out of the canopy surrounding it in concentric semi circles.
