The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) is the largest contemporary art festival in Asia, held once every two years, in abandoned factories and warehouses repurposed as galleries and cafes, in Fort Kochi-Mattancherry, in Kerala, South India. Every biennale, a pavilion is constructed to host performance and cinematic art at Cabral Yard, a one acre campus full of large canopied trees in the heart of Fort Kochi. In KMB 2018, the curator Anita Dube commissioned Anagram Architects to design the Biennale Pavilion. In turn, Anagram Architects collaborated with B L Manjunath for structural design and Studio Wood for furniture design.
Identiti is an advertising and branding agency run by a father-sons trio who wished to consolidate their home and office in different parts of the city into a spacious live-work unit. By the time we were approached, a building had been purchased for this purpose on a relatively compact 270 sqm site. The existing structure was an archetype of a build to rent style prevalent throughout Kerala with low daylight and even lesser character. Cramped room sizes resulting from a half-baked interpretation of Vastu (traditional Indian system of architecture) made matters worse.
The brief from the client was simple and short “a house with more floor space and an exterior with striking appearance in contrast with the surrounding”. The old house was about 890 sqft of build-up area with road on the north side. It was a single storied house which had a small living room, dining room, two bedrooms with attached toilets and a small kitchen. The house was expanded to 1900 sqft.
In a day and age where wide open spaces are hard to come by, Prof. Charanjit Shah pushed the envelope of GEMS school nurturing students in a beautiful green campus right in the heart of the smart city, Kochi. The school’s approach to learning is one which focuses not only on academic excellence but also in helping students develop their character, creativity, values, personal leadership and the spirit of enterprise necessary for them to achieve their full potential as global citizens and leaders of the future.
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