Excerpt: Terrace Studio by Onebulb Architecture Studio is located on an empty rooftop, creating a pavilion with a concrete textured wall and existing terracotta flooring. The design creates a sustainable space by reusing scrap materials and utilizing locally available materials like mangalore tile and mild steel. The simple materiality and minimal intervention reflect the hand-made quality of the space, allowing for frugality and speedy construction.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Located in the vibrant neighborhood of Tirunelveli, is the “Terrace studio”, a design evolved from a friendly chit-chat at a tea shop. The studio space was designed to accommodate the basic requirements of the client, a photographer, as a working studio, for professional photo shoots and a leisure corner. When Studio Onebulb set out to design and ideate, it eventually morphed into a space where people came together for meaningful experiences and have fun!
The intention was to reuse scrap material and create a sustainable design solution. Procuring locally available materials like reused mangalore tile and mild steel allowed for frugality and speedy construction. The simple materiality and minimal intervention reflects the hand-made quality of the space.
Standing on the empty rooftop, the architects began to envision the studio as a pavilion set against a concrete textured wall. The open floor plan creates a compact space, integrated and isolated when necessary. Concrete textured wall and existing terracotta flooring has set the tone for the studio.
The reused mild steel structure of posts and beams came together with simple bolted connections and was elevated in (NORTH/SOUTH) sides creating an asymmetrical structure. The design uses a refined façade skin of bamboo screens and mangalore tiles woven in the structural framework which encloses the studio while expressing the structure.
Photographic studios require ample ambient light and adjustable apertures for sunlight. The architects pierced the southern façade with vertical louvers of mangalore tiles to combat the solar radiation while also allowing wind movement at night. The studio has an open entrance in the west and bamboo screens suspended on the east side to allow for cross ventilation.
The unique façade design enriches the play of light and shadow and also creates a sinuous whole to blur the boundaries between the cozy studio and the outside world. The adjustable louvers of mangalore tile were wrapped above the lintel on the western side for wind movement and to keep rainwater out.
The remaining unused materials were assembled on-site as a storage space for the studio. Further accentuating the interiors is the fine suspended lighting enclosed in Clothcrete by “Rented Cycle”. The wall art was the final piece of the puzzle left to make the studio complete. Constant debates and discussions to portray the strongest character of Tamil literature led us to the life history of Karna, the tragic antihero with a golden armour.
Avoiding traditional joinery details, the transition from outside to inside relies on semi-opaque partitions, marking thresholds which invite rather than excluding. It has evolved into a communal space for various activities like online classes, musical sessions, leisure evenings, party nights, moonlight diners, shelter from rain and so on.
The terrace studio creates a world within itself, where one can engage and quench in the pleasure of seeking. Amidst the dense urban fabric of Tirunelveli, the “Terrace studio” redefines the skyline with an expressive façade that is unique, inviting and bold. The nestled shaft of light is purely an outcome of the inherent simplicity and honesty of the design.
Drawings & Models & Construction Images
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