Cloth architecture was among the most dramatic and colourful paraphernalia of princely life in the medieval world. Vast tented encampments accompanied the great monarchs of Asia and Europe on their long wars, vacations and pilgrimages. Portable, and often highly decorative, palaces of cloth afforded to the imperial entourages not only shelter and security but also the comfort and beauty to which they were accustomed.
A magnificent example of medieval textile architecture is the historic Lal Dera, ‘red tent’ of Jodhpur (Marwar). It remains as the largest of all decorative objects to have survived from the Mughal era. The Lal Dera is housed in the Mehrangarh Museum in Jodhpur, is the most iconic of them all. Taking inspiration from its historic design, we used the structuring idea of the original, the arch and the tensioned fabric but expanded it to take a formal direction of uninhibited scale. The opulence in our interpretation is an outcome of a soaring spatial experience.
Team:
Architect: Sameep Padora & Associates (sP+a)
Other participants: Vami Koticha, Kunal Sharma, Santhosh Narayanan
Photography: Kunal Sharma
Fabricator: Bhavin Nagda
